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\Mii/''alii^^\'''l'^'''J^^^  <r.,'M'.---  .i. 


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tihxaxy  of  €he  €heolo0(cal  ^tmmary 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


!  v^P  '^ 


•d^D* 


PRESENTED  BY 

Rufus  H.   LeFevre 


K^^i 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 
in  2009  witii  funding  from 
Princeton  Tlieological  Seminary  Library  ^ 


littp://www.arcliive.org/details/ourmissionaryworOOflic 


J.  C.  Bright. 

(See  Page  215.) 


OUR 


MISSIONARY   WORK 


FROM 


1853  TO  1889 


^ 


BY 


Rev.  D.  K.  Flickinger,  D.  D 


WHOSE  OFFICIAL  CONNECTION  WITH  THE  WORK  EXTENDED  FROM 
1855   TO    1889 


DAYTON,    OHIO 

United  Brethren  Publishing  House 

1S89 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
Religion  of  Christ  a  missionary  religion — Missionary  history 
important— Negledling  to  provide  for  the  poor  is  neglecting 
Christ — The  souls  of  men  being  more  valuable  than  their  bod- 
ies, have  a  stronger  claim  upon  our  sympathies  —  Illustrations 
of  a  genuine  missionary  spirit ll 

CHAPTER  II. 

Statistics  showing  moral  condition  of  the  world— Church  of  Christ 
has  only  been  playing  at  missions — The  heathen  ignorant  of 
God;  slaves  to  superstition;  worship  their  shadows,  and  gods 
made  of  wood,  clay,  iron,  and  stone — The  gospel  of  Christ  their 
only  hope ;  without  this  utterly  impossible  for  them  to  emerge 
from  their  sad  state i? 

CHAPTER   III. 

Certainty  of  work  being  accomplished— True,  there  is  still  much 
skepticism  at  home  and  heathenism  abroad — Much  as  the  gospel 
has  to  contend  with,  its  progress  is  so  marked  as  to  assure  final 
and  complete  victory — The  liquor  traffic  in  heathen  countries, 
and  the  prostitution  of  heathen  women,  permitted  by  Christian 
governments  greatly  hinder  the  cause  of  Christian  missions.  21 

CHAPTER   IV. 

Missionary  century — Dr.  Cary,  in  1792 — Opposed  to  missions  be- 
cause "We  have  no  religion  to  spare" — Giving  to  others  the 
best  way  to  retain  what  we  have — How  a  minister  in  Indiana  was 
made  happy — How  a  man  was  kept  from  committing  suicide, 
and  was  led  to  help  others 23 

CHAPTER   V. 

Work  of  the  last  hundred  years — Over  one  hundred  missionary 
organizations — Sixteen  million  dollars  now,  instead  of  five  hun- 

V 


VCXLO 


VI  CONTEXTS, 

dred  thousand  at  the  beginning  of  this  century — The  Bible 
translated  into  many  languages,  and  circulating  freely  even  in 
Catholic  countries — Great  success  of  missions  in  India,  China, 
Japan,  Madagascar,  Sandwich  and  Fiji  islands 27 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Sentiment  becoming  more  friendly  to  missions — Churches  which 
labor  most  earnestly  to  enlighten  the  heathen,  grow  most  rap- 
idly at  home — This  abundantly  illustrated  in  our  own  church 
since  1853 — '^^^  ^^'^  negro's  and  the  Chinaman's  remarks — "  L,o, 
I  am  with  you  alway, "  is  better  understood  now  than  formerly...     32 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Illustrations  of  early  piety — A  boy's  logic  too  much  for  his  father — 
"  We  have  heathen  at  home,"  no  reason  for  not  sending  the  gos- 
pel abroad — Pra(5licing  self-denial  makes  us  strong  in  the  I^ord — 
The  efforts  of  Cary,  Judson,  lyivingstone,  and  others  quickened 
into  new  life  the  churches  they  left  behind — A  minister's  re- 
mark, that  what  he  had  given  to  God's  cause  was  all  he  had  left 
to  him 35 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

From  1853  to  1857. 

Organization  of  Missionary  Society — Work  commenced  in  Mis- 
souri, Michigan,  Nebraska,  Canada,  and  California — Mission- 
aries sent  to  Africa — Co-operation  with  American  Missionary 
Association — Progress  of  work  upon  home,  frontier,  and  foreign 
missions  during  the  four  years 40 

CHAPTER   IX. 
From  1857  to  1861. 

General  Conference  of  1857 — Illness  of  secretaries — Publication 
of  Missionary  Telescope — Financial  crisis — Many  conversions — 
House  sent  to  Africa — Missionaries  shipwrecked — The  work  suc- 
cessful     52 

CHAPTER   X. 

From  1861  to  1865. 

Serious  obstacles  to  overcome  on  account  of  debt  and  war — Money 
came  from  unexpected  sources  in  answer  to  prayer — Fierce  op- 
position from  pro-slavery  men — Work  in  Africa  not  entirely 
abandoned — Real  progress  upon  many  fields — I^osses  upon  a  few.     62 


CONTENTS.  Vii 

CHAPTER  XI. 

From  1865  to  1869. 
Missionary  Visitor  commenced — Freedmen's  mission  discontin- 
ued—Work resumed  In  places  from  which  war  had  driven  us— 
Oregon  made  self-supporting— Rev.  O.  Hadley  and  wife  sent  to 
Africa,  and  what  they  said— Union  sought  with  the  Evangelical 
Association— Great  prosperity  on  frontier  and  home  missions 75 

CHAPTER  XII. 

From  1S69  to  1873.  y 

Work  commenced   in   Germany— Rev.  J.  Gomer  and  wife  go  to  "^ 
Africa— Frontier  work  enlarged— Opposition  to  our  work  in  Ger- 
many—Skies brightening  in  Africa— Rev.  J.  A.  Evans  and  Mrs. 
Hadley  go  to  Africa— D.  F.  Wilberforce  comes  to  Dayton— iT/«- 
sionary  Visitor  and  the  work  generally  successful 87 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

From  1873  to  1877. 
Change  of  president  and  treasurer— Women's  praying  crusade- 
Return  of  Missionaries— Work  commenced  in  Philadelphia- 
Rapid  growth  in  Nebraska— First  churches  organized  in  Africa- 
Woman's  Missionary  Association— Missionaries  going  to  and 
coming  from  foreign  fields— Wrong  to  have  missionary  debt- 
Average  of  one  dollar  per  capita  should  be  given ;  loi 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
From  1S77  to  1881. 
Missionary  bishop  for  Pacific  Coast— Unjust  discrimination  against 
color— Missionary  quarterly— Wilberforce  and  wife  go  to  Africa 
—Boys'  home  built  in  Africa— Persecution  in  Germany— Organi- 
zation of  Mission  distridls  in  Africa  and  Germany— Prosperity  at 
home  and  abroad jjg 

CHAPTER   XV. 

From  iSSi  to  18S5. 
Commencing  new  mission  stations  in  Africa— Rev.  Gomer  and  wife  ^ 
come  home,  and  then  return  to  Africa— Transfer  of  Mendi  mis- 
sion to  the  United  Brethren  Board  of  Missions,  with  money 
necessary  to  sustain  it— Freedmen's  Mission  Aid  Association  of 
London— Papers  published  in  Africa  and  Germany— Chinese  on 
the  Pacific  coast— Rapid  growth  in  all  the  departments  of  work...  131 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

From  1885  to  18S9. 

New  secretary  and  treiasurer — Foreign  bishops'  distri<5l — Reduced 
appropriations — Changes  in  Africa  and  Germany — The  work  con- 
tinues to  prosper  in  Africa — Rufus  Clark  and  Wife  Theological 
Training-school — Desolating  war  in  Africa — Rapid  increase  of 
members — Success  in  paying  missionary  debt — Prosperity  in  all 
departments 165 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Woman's  Missionary  Association — Preliminary  remarks — Its  be- 
ginning— Its  mission  fields — Its  prosperity 205 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
Biographical  sketch  of  Rev.  J.  C.  Bright 215 

CHAPTER   XIX. 
Biographical  sketch  of  Rev.  J.  Kemp 224 

CHAPTER   XX. 
Biographical  sketch  of  Mrs.  Mary  Ann  Sowers 229 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
Biographical  sketch  of  Mrs.  Sylvia  Carpenter  Haywood 234 

CHAPTER   XXII. 
Biographical  sketches  of  African  converts 239 


INTRODUCTION. 


In  1853,  the  Home,  Frontier,  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the 
United  Brethren  in  Christ  was  organized  by  the  General  Conference 
of  the  church.  This  volume  contains  the  history  of  the  work  per- 
formed, with  results  tabulated  at  the  end  of  each  quadrennial  term,  so 
far  as  this  could  be  done,  in  a  statistical  form.  Some  of  the  statements 
made,  though  not  regarded  as  essential  to  the  history,  are  inserted 
because  they  are  interesting,  and  may  be  useful. 

Africa  has  considerable  space  given  it,  for  the  reason  that  this  is  the 
most  important  mission  of  the  society.  It  also  did  more  to  awaken 
missionary  zeal  in  the  Church  than  all  others.  This  large  continent, 
much  of  which  is  still  in  undisturbed  heathenism,  is  now  fully  open  to 
missionaries,  who  should  be  sent  by  hundreds  to  redeem  that  dark 
land  to  Christ. 

Mr.  Stanley,  in  his  march  of  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  days 
from  Zanzibar  across  the  continent  to  the  mouth  of  the  Congo  River, 
says  that  in  all  the  fifty  million  people  in  the  country  through  which 
he  passed,  not  one  had  heard  the  gospel.  The  explorations  and  death 
of  lyivingstone,  and  the  heroic  sufferings  of  Stanley,  through  which 
the  civilized  world  has  obtained  a  more  perfedl  knowledge  of  the  sad 
condition  of  the  people  of  that  dark  continent,  have  awakened  much 
zeal  and  activity  in  its  behalf  The  cruelties  endured  by  thousands  of 
the  people  of  Africa,  growing  out  of  the  slave-trade,  the  rum-traflSc, 
cannibalism,  offering  human  sacrifices,  and  the  many  superstitions  of 
the  people,  as,  for  instance,  witchcraft,  should  cause  Christians  to 
speedily  give  them  the  gospel.  The  history  of  our  mission  in  Africa, 
as  given  in  this  volume,  shows  how  truly  the  gospel  is  the  power  of 
God  unto  salvation  ;  also  how  wonderfully,  not  to  say  miraculously, 
the  Master  has  led  our  church  in  its  work  there. 

Our  work  in  Germany,  considering  the  small  outlay  of  money,  shows 
conclusively  that  God  has  been  with  us  in  the  Fatherland.  In  the  new 
states  and  territories  of  the  United  States,  a  good  work  has  also  been 
done  by  the  society.  In  the  department  of  home  missions,  great 
strength  has  been  added  to  the  Church,  and  many  precious  souls  have 
been  saved.     As  these  are  not  under  the  control  of  the  parent  society, 

ix 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

but  of  its  branches,  there  is  not  so  much  said  of  them  ,  but  the  quad- 
rennial tabulated  statistics  of  home  missions  are  given  as  fully  as  those 
of  frontier  and  foreign  missions.  Very  much  has  been  omitted  for 
brevity's  sake,  as,  for  instance,  the  names  of  missionaries,  who  did 
much  hard  and  excellent  work  upon  home  and  frontier  missions,  oi 
whom  space  does  not  permit  giving  a  specific  account.  Names  of 
members  of  the  Board  of  Missions  are  omitted  for  the  same  reason. 

The  portraits  and  sketches  of  the  first  and  the  present  ofiicers  of  the* 
missionary  society,  and  the  sketches  of  the  first  two  presidents  of  th? 
Woman's  Missionary  Association  and  several  of  our  African  converts, 
with  the  cuts  representing  the  Rufus  Clark  and  Wife  Theological 
Training-school,  the  Mary  Sowers  Home  for  Girls,  the  Rotufunk 
school,  the  boys  and  girls  of  Shaingay  school,  and  Chief  Souri  Kes- 
sebbe  and  his  wives,  will  add  much  to  the  value  of  this  volume. 

The  author  regrets  that  the  sketches  of  persons  whose  lives  were  so 
full  of  good  works  and  zeal  for  God's  cause  as  to  have  furnished  matter 
for  a  volume  as  large  as  this,  had  to  be  compressed  into  a  few  pages. 
It  is  a  source  of  pleasure  to  him  that  the  mere  outlines  given  will  in 
this  way  perpetuate  the  memories  of  those  whom  all  delight  to  honor. 

August,  1889. 

D.  K.  FI^ICKINGER. 


John  Kemp. 

(See  page  224.) 


United  Brethren  Missions. 


CHAPTER    I. 

Religion  of  Christ  a  missionary  religion — Missionary  history  impor- 
tant—  Negle(5ling  to  provide  for  the  poor  is  neglecfting  Christ — The 
souls  of  men  being  more  valuable  than  their  bodies,  have  a  stronger 
claim  upon  our  sympathies — Illustrations  of  a  genuine  missionary 
spirit. 

Before  coming  to  the  work  indicated  liy  the  title  of 
this  volume,  -wliich  i,s  to  give  tlic  history  of  our  mis- 
sions since  the  organization  of  the  Home,  Frontier,  and 
Foreign  Missionary  Society,  in  1853,  a  few  general  re- 
marks respecting  the  missionary  enterprise  will  be  in 
place. 

The  salvation  of  Christ,  so  strikingly  foreshadowed 
in  the  Old  Testament,  and  advanced  from  promise  to 
fulfillment  in  the  New  Testament  scriptures,  in  other 
words,  the  religion  of  Christ,  is  pre-eminently  a  mis- 
sionary religion.  A  life  of  faith  in  the  Son  of  God 
fills  the  soul  of  the  believer  with  the  same  compassion 
for  sinners  which  the  Savior  had.  All  true  Christian 
churches  are  of  necessity  missionary  churches.  The 
intensity  of  zeal  for  mission  Avork  may  be  greatly  modi- 
fied by  peculiar  surroundings.  Our  early  training,  and 
the  interpretation  given  to  the  New  Testament  teaching 
upon  this  subject,  as  well  as  the  needs  and  encourage- 
ments of  mission  fields,  all  these  will  have  a  great 
influence  as  to  the   measure  of  missionary  zeal  which 

Christians  possess.     Then,  the  circumstances  of  the  age 

11 


12  HISTORY    OF    THE 

in  which  men  live  must  be  taken  into  account.  Some  of 
the  great  reformers,  as,  for  instance,  Luther  and  Calvin, 
and  even  the  fathers  of  our  own  church,  found  much  in 
their  midst  that  was  wicked,  not  only  among  the  irre- 
ligious, but  also  in  the  churches.  In  short,  the  dead  for- 
mality in  many  of  the  Protestant  churches,  the  idolatry 
and  tyranny  of  the  Romanists,  and  the  low  type  of 
piety  among  the  communicants  of  both,  with  very  few 
exceptions,  in  their  day,  gave  these  men  of  God  so  much 
to  correct  at  home  that  they  had  neither  time  nor  money 
to  attend  to  any  missionary  work  among  the  heathen. 
They  did  truly  a  home  missionary  work  which  was 
much  needed,  and  did  it  v/ith  heroic  zeal.  It  is  not 
exaggerating  to  say  that  the  history  of  the  world,  espe- 
cially since  the  Christian  era,  would  be  incomplete 
without  showing  what  Christian  missions  have  done. 
Indeed,  the  most  important  or  valuable  portion  of  the 
world's  history  is  either  directly  missionary  history  or 
the  outgrowth  of  missionary  effort.  All  great  changes 
for  the  better,  as  those  in  the  apostles'  day,  and  such  as 
had  their  origin  in  the  great  reformations  since  that 
time,  are  inseparably  connected  with  Christian  missions. 
The  religion  of  the  Lord  Jesus  in  the  hearts  of  men 
is  at  the  foundation  of  all  truly  great  movements  for 
the  welfare  of  the  race  of  man,  both  in  this  life  and  that 
which  is  to  come.  Bold  as  this  statement  may  seem, 
and  as  open  to  criticism  as  some  may  regard  it,  it  will 
nevertheless  stand  the  test.  Persons  not  professedly 
Christian  are  often  unconsciously  swayed  by  Christian 
principles,  and  in  this  way  have  been  in  some  instances 
not  behind  real  Christians  in  jDromoting  great  benevo- 
lent enterprises,  the  greatest  of  which  originated  in  the 
benevolence  of  God,  and  was  manifested  to  man  in  the 
work  which  our  Savior  accomplished  by  living,  dying, 


UNITED   BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  13 

and  being  raised  from  the  dead  in  our  behalf.  Chris- 
tianity having  originated  in  the  benevolence  of  God, 
inaugurated  on  earth  through  the  benevolence  of  Christ, 
it  is  reasonable  and  scriptural  that  it  should  be  dissem- 
inated and  perpetuated  in  all  the  earth  through  the 
benevolence  of  the  Christian  church.  The  following 
scriptural  texts  are  to  the  point:  "For  ye  know  the 
grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that,  though  he  was  rich, 
yet  for  your  sakes  he  becam.e  poor,  that  ye  through  his 
poverty  might  be  rich."  As  though  Christ  had  said  to 
his  disciples,  Ye  know  how  full  and  free  my  grace  has 
been  to  you,  by  a  blessed  experience,  and  having  freely 
received,  freely  give;  being  saved  yourselves,  do  what 
you  can  to  save  others ;  tell  them  that  I  "  by  the  grace 
of  God"  tasted  "death  for  every  man."  As  compassion 
for  sinners  was  so  deep  an  emotion  and  so  mighty  an 
impulse  of  the  Savior,  so  ought  it  be  with  his  followers.^ 
"When  he  saw  the  multitudes,  he  was  moved  with 
compassion  on  them,  because  they  fainted,  and  were 
scattered  abroad,  as  sheep  having  no  shepherd."  Sad  as 
was  this  sight  to  Christ  in  the  days  of  his  incarnation, 
the  condition  of  the  people  which  so  deeply  moved  his 
compassion  was  in  every  respect  more  conducive  to 
happiness,  both  in  this  world  and  in  the  life  to  come, 
than  is  the  condition  of  millions  of  heathen  now  living. 
If,  therefore,  this  sight  moved  the  Savior  with  compas- 
sion, and  caused  him  to  say  "unto  his  disciples,  The 
harvest  truly  is  plenteous,  but  the  labourers  are  few; 
pray  ye  therefore  the  Lord  of  the  harvest,  that  he  will 
send  forth  labourers  into  his  harvest,"  then  the  greater 
multitudes  of  our  day,  who  are  not  only  as  sheep  having 
no  shepherd,  but  who  are  "  wretched,  and  miserable,  and 
poor,  and  blind,  and  naked,"  deserve  our  sincere  sym- 
pathy, for  "  Their  throat  is  an   open   sepulchre ;   with 


14  HISTORY   OF    THE 

their  tongues  they  have  used  deceit ;  the  poison  of  asps 
is  under  their  lips :  whose  mouth  is  full  of  cursing 
and  bitterness :  their  feet  are  swift  to  shed  blood :  de- 
struction and  misery  are  in  their  ways :  and  the  way 
of  peace  have  they  not  known :  there  is  no  fear  of  God 
before  their  eyes." 

The  duty  of  the  Christian  church  toward  the  unsaved, 
especially  the  heathen,  is  scripturally  set  forth  in  the 
following  texts:  "But  to  do  good  and  to  communicate 
forget  not :  for  with  such  sacrifices  God  is  well  pleased." 
^'Hereby  perceive  we  the  love  of  God,  because  he  laid 
down  his  life  for  us :  and  we  ought  to  lay  down  our  lives 
for  the  brethren.  But  whoso  hath  this  world's  good, 
and  seeth  his  brother  have  need,  and  shutteth  up  his 
bowels  of  compassion  from  him,  how  dwelleth  the  love 
of  God  in  him  ?  "  This  sj^irit  of  compassion  and  benev- 
olence so  forcibly  taught  in  God's  word,  and  so  strik- 
ingly illustrated  in  Christ's  life,  with  the  injunction  of 
the  apostle,  "Let  this  mind  be  in  you,  which  was  also  in 
Christ  Jesus,"  so  very  clearly  teaches  our  duty,  as  it 
relates  to  the  suffering  poor  and  unsaved,  that  there  can 
be  no  doubt  upon  this  subject.  Yea,  more,  the  Savior's 
description  of  the  day  of  judgment,  and  the  words  of 
approval  which  he  as  Judge  will  speak  to  his  people,  and 
the  sentence  Avhich  he  will  pronounce  upon  those  who 
are  not  his,  are  exceedingly  significant.  Our  willingness 
or  unwillingness  to  care  for  the  needy  of  earth,  in  tem- 
poral as  well  as  in  spiritual  matters,  according  to  Christ's 
teaching  in  the  twenty-fifth  chapter  of  St.  Matthew,  will 
determine  the  question  as  to  whether  it  will  be  said  to 
us,  "Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom 
prepared  for  you  from  the  fovindation  of  the  world,"  or, 
"Depart  from  me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  pre- 
pared for  the  devil  and  his  angels."     The  reason  given 


UNITED    BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  15 

by  the  Judge  for  blessing  the  one  and  cursing  the  other, 
is  in  the  words,  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one 
of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto 
me/"  and^  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  to  one  of  the  least 
of  these,  ye  did  it  not  to  me,"  The  two  points  which 
should  impress  us  in  this  narrative  are,  that  Christ 
regards  doing  good  to  the  poor  as  done  to-  him,  and 
neglecting  them  as  neglecting  him;  and  that  a  great 
blessing  will  come  to  those  who  help  the  suffering,  and 
a  great  curse  will  come  to  those  who  neglect  to  do  so. 
Those  who  habitually  neglect  the  suffering  poor,  do  so 
at  the  peril  of  their  souls.  The  following  narrative  is  a 
good  illustration  of  the  spirit  that  should  actuate  Chris- 
tians toward  the  poor,  whether  they  are  suffering  for 
want  of  temporal  or  spiritual  blessings.  It  is  also  sug- 
gestive of  how  the  Savior  shows  his  approval  of  acts  of 
self-sacrifice  in  behalf  of  suffering  humanity.  A  Russian 
sentinel  gave  a  comrade  an  overcoat  on  a  cold,  stormy 
night,  and  as  a  result  took  cold  and  died;  but  before 
dying  he  said  to  others  that  he  saw  Christ  coming  to 
him  clad  in  the  same  coat  he  had  given  his  comrade  on 
•that  wild,  bleak  night. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  repeat  what  has  been  so 
often  told,  and  which  the  Scriptures  clearly  set  forth, 
namely,  that  the  souls  of  men  are  infinitely  more  valu- 
able than  their  bodies,  and  hence  have  stronger  claims 
upon  Christian  sympathy  and  help  than  the  latter. 
Where  there  is  a  true  missionary  spirit,  born  of  the  love 
we  have  for  Christ,  then,  as  the  poet  puts  it,  "labor  is 
rest  and  pain  is  sweet"  to  those  who  undergo  these 
things  for  the  benefit  of  others.  Mary  Jones,  a  Welsh 
girl  sixteen  years  of  age,  walked  twenty-five  miles  to 
buy  a  Bible,  that  she  might  read  it  to  others  and  be 
blessed   herself  therebv.     The  announcement,  after  she 


16  HISTORY   OF   THE 

had  walked  so  far,  that  all  the  Bibles  on  hand  were 
promised,  only  made  her  plead  more  earnestly  that  she 
might  obtain  the  treasure  she  came  for,  and  thereby  she 
not  only  succeeded  in  getting  a  Bible,  but  also  suggested 
to  others  the  necessity  of  a  society  for  the  circulation  of 
God's  word,  which  led  to  the  formation  of  the  British 
Bible  Society.     This  was  a  genuine  missionary  spirit. 

Still  another  case  must  be  given.  A  Welsh  Avoman, 
while  away  from  her  home,  heard  a  minister  preach  who 
greatly  edified  the  people.  She  invited  him  to  visit  her 
neighborhood  and  hold  a  meeting  of  several  days.  He 
promised  he  would  when  she  came  for  him,  little  think- 
ing that  she  would  make  the  long  journey  of  a  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  to  where  he  lived.  Returning  to  her 
home,  and  making  all  arrangements,  she  announced  that 
at  such  a  time  a  meeting  would  be  held.  At  the  proper 
time  she  started  on  foot  to  go  to  the  minister's  home, 
and  after  a  week's  travel  reached  the  place.  True  to  his 
promise,  he  came,  and  many  souls  were  brought  to 
Christ.     She  did  what  she  could. 


UNITED   BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  17 


CHAPTER   11. 

statistics  showing  moral  condition  of  the  world — Church  of  Christ 
has  only  been  playing  at  missions  —  The  heathen  ignorant  of  God; 
slaves  to  superstition  ;  worship  their  shadows,  and  gods  made  of 
wood,  clay,  iron,  and  stone  — The  gospel  of  Christ  their  only  hope  ; 
without  this,  utterly  impossible  for  them  to  emerge  from  their  sad 
state. 

Mr.  Blackstone,  of  Chicago,  who  had  for  years  given 
much  attention  to  figures  representing  the  moral  and 
religious  condition  of  the  world,  said  at  the  Moody  con- 
vocation, in  August,  1886,  that  the  population  of  the 
world  was  estimated  at  1,434,000,000.  Of  these  835,000,- 
000  were  heathen,  136,000,000  Protestants,  195,000,000 
Roman  Catholics,  175,000,000  Mohammedans,  and  35,- 
000,000  belonged  to  the  Greek  Church. 

The  United  States  of  America  gave  $65,000,000  to 
missions,  ^110,000,000  to  education,  $900,000,000  for 
intoxicating  drinks,  8600,000,000  for  tobacco,  and  85,000,- 
000  for  ostrich  feathers.  In  fifteen  years,  the  so-called 
Christian  nations  had  spent  $15,000,000,000  for  war,  and 
only  $300,000,000  for  the  extension  of  the  gospel  of 
Christ. 

One  has  well  said  that  the  church  of  Christ  has  only 
been  playing  at  missions.  It  has  not  undertaken  this 
work  yet  in  earnest.  Not  a  tithe  has  been  attempted 
whicli  might  have  been  accomplished,  even  during  the 
last  century,  which  has  done  more  than  any  other  since 
the  apostles'  day  in  mission  effort. 

Considering  the  sad  condition  of  the  heathen,  and  the 
ability  of  Christians  to  give  tliem  the  gospel,  as  well  as 


18  HISTORY    OF    THE 

the  positive  command  of  the  Savior  to  "teach  all 
nations,"  it  is  not  very  creditable  to  the  followers  of 
Christ,  that  ^  large  a  number  of  the  earth's  population 
are  yet  in  the  darkness  of  heathenism. 

The  fact  that  Christians  are  largely  in  the  minority, 
is  conclusive  j^roof  that  the  church  should  greatly  bestir 
itself  to  achieve  the  conquest  of  earth  for  Him  whose 
right  it  is  to  reign.  Though  Christ  tasted  death  for 
every  man,  and  hath  brouglit  life  and  immortality  to 
light  through  the  gospel,  the  ignorance  of  the  heathen 
respecting  these  things  leaves  them  in  the  sad  condition 
in  this  life  that  they  would  be  in  had  no  Savior  come  to 
the  earth. 

Of  God  and  his  government,  the  gospel  and  its  bless- 
ings, religion  and  its  joys,  heaven  and  its  glories,  hell 
and  its  sorrows,  they  have  no  just  conceptions.  They 
are  emptied  of  all  that  is  good,  and  filled  with  all  that  is 
evil,  and  such  will  be  their  condition  until  the  gospel, 
which  is  the  jDOwer  of  God  unto  salvation,  is  given  them. 
No  other  power  can  elevate  and  save  the  degraded  of 
earth.  Without  the  gospel,  civilization,  legislation,  and 
education  fail  to  make  people  what  they  should  be  upon 
earth,  and  fail  to  fit  them  for  the  society  of  heaven.  All 
these  have  been  tried,  but  like  the  fetters  and  chains  by 
which  the  demoniac  was  bound,  they  fail  to  tame  the 
wild  nature  of  men,  and  cause  them  to  sit  at  the  feet  of 
Jesus,  clothed  and  in  their  right  mind.  Christianity 
alone  can  do  this.  This  is  the  2>ower  of  God  unto  salva- 
tion, and  saves  men  from  the  polluting  evils  of  hea- 
thenism, such  as  witchcraft,  purrowism,  cannibalism, 
polygamy,  slavery,  and  the  many  debasing  cruelties  of 
those  who  inhabit  the  dark  places  of  the  earth. 

A  certain  writer  has  well  said  that  man  is  a  religious 
animal   and  will  worship   some   object;   hence,  in   the 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS,  19 

absence  of  a  knowledge  of  tlie  true  God  he  becomes  an 
idolator.  Man  also  becomes  assimilated  into  the  char- 
acter of  the  object  he  Avorships.  If  the  object  be  pure 
and  exalted  it  will  tend  to  the  elevation  and  purification 
i)f  the  worshiper.  If  on  the  other  hand  the  object  wor- 
shiped be  earthly,  sensual,  or  devilish,  these  will  be 
developed  in  the  Avorshiper.  Hence,  the  importance  of 
worshiping  God,  Avho  is  exalted  above  all  principality 
and  power,  and  v.'hose  pure  eyes  cannot  look  upon  sin 
with  approval. 

It  is  said  that  the  negroes  of  Benin,  West  Africa,  at 
times  worship  their  own  shadows,  which  is  quite  as 
rational  as  to  worship  rej)tiles,  animals,  and  many  other 
objects,  both  animate  and  inanimate.  The  writer  has 
seen  gods  made  of  wood,  clay,  iron,  and  stone,  by  the 
heathen  of  western  Africa ;  some  male  and  others  female  ; 
so  horrible  and  indecent  in  their  appearance,  as  to  make 
one  turn  away  from  them  in  disgust.  How  important 
that  a  knowledge  of  the  true  God  be  taught  all  men  as 
the  Savior  commanded,  "Go  ye  therefore  and  teach  all 
nations.  .  .  .  Teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  what- 
soever I  have  commanded  you :  and,  lo,  I  am  with  you 
alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  The  utter 
impossibility  of  the  heathen  being  able  to  emerge  from 
the  sad  state  into  which  they  have  fallen,  without  the 
gospel,  demands  that  it  ])e  given  them,  as  the  Savior 
directed.  It  is  a  sad  comment  ujDon  the  zeal  and  liber- 
ality of  the  professed  followers  of  Christ,  not  to  say  a 
shame,  that  about  two  thirds  of  the  human  family  are 
still  in  the  grossest  ignorance  of  God  and  the  way  of  sal- 
vation, enduring  all  that  is  meant  by  the  words,  "  The 
dark  places  of  the  earth  are  full  of  the  habitations  of 
cruelty." 

The  following  passages  found  in  God's  word,  show  very 


20  HISTOKY   OF    THE 

foreibh^  the  importance  of  the  mission  work  enjoined 
upon  the  church:  "He  that  winneth  souls  is  wise;'' 
"And  they  that  be  wise  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of 
the  firmament :  and  they  that  turn  many  to  righteous- 
ness as  the  stars  forever  and  ever;"  ''Let  him  know,  that 
he  Avhich  converteth  the  sinner  from  the  error  of  his  way 
shall  save  a  soul  from  death,  and  shall  hide  a  multitude 
of  sins."  Two  remarks  are  in  j^lace.  (1.)  The  human 
soul  is  the  most  valuable  thing  on  earth.  (2.)  "Winning 
it  for  Christ,  the  wisest  enterprise  in  which  anyone  can 
engage.  In  other  words,  the  salvation  of  the  soul  is  the 
greatest  blessing  which  any  mortal  can  gain,  and  the  loss 
of  it  the  greatest  calamity  which  can  befall  anyone. 
This  fact  is  most  strikingly  brought  out  in  the  question 
asked  by  Christ,  "What  shall  it  profit  a  man,  if  he  shall 
gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul?  or  Avhat 
shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul?"  It  is  also 
said  by  the  apostle,  "  There  is  none  other  name  under 
heaven  given  among  men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved," 
— the  name  of  Jesus.  Now  if  this  he  true,  that  salvation 
is  only  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  that  the  soul  is  worth 
more  than  an^'thing  else,  yea,  than  all  else,  in  this  world, 
and  that  we  may  instrumentally  save  souls,  as  is  so 
clearly  taught  in  the  scriptural  textfc  quoted,  then  the 
missionary  enterprise,  and  the  part  Christians  are  ex- 
pected to  act,  have  a  momentous  meaning.  The  follow- 
ing from  St.  Paul  is  to  the  point :  "  For  whosoever  shall 
call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall  be  saved.  How 
then  shall  they  call  on  him  in  whom  the}'  have  not 
believed  ?  and  how  shall  they  believe  in  him  of  whom 
they  have  not  heard  ?  and  how  shall  they  hear  without  a 
preacher?  and  how  shall  they  preach,  except  they  be 
sent  ?  as  it  is  Avritten,  How  beautiful  are  the  feet  of  them 
that  preach  the  gospel  of  peace,  and  bring  glad  tidings 
of  good  things ! " 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  21 


CHAPTER    III. 

Certainty  of  work  being  accomplished  —  True,  there  is  still  much 
skepticism  at  home  and  heathenism  abroad  —  Much  as  the  gospel 
has  to  contend  with,  its  progress  is  so  marked  as  to  assure  final 
and  complete  vidlorj'  —  A  shame  that  the  liquor  traffic  in  heathen 
countries,  and  the  prostitution  of  heathen  women,  permitted  by 
Christian  governments,  greatly  hinder  the  cause  of  Christian  mis- 
sions. 

The  Savior  when  asked  respecting  his  second  coming 
and  the  end  of  the  world,  said,  "  And  this  gospel  of  the 
kingdom  shall  be  preached  in  all  the  world  for  a  witness 
unto  all  nations ;  and  then  shall  the  end  come."  I  quote 
this  passage  now  to  show  that  there  is  no  uncertainty 
as  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  work  of  the  Master  en- 
joined upon  his  followers  nearly  nineteen  hundred  years 
ago.  Though  he  made  no  special  arrangements  by  which 
it  should  be  done,  the  fact  that  he  said  it  shall  be  done 
assures  us  that  in  his  own  good  time  he  will  bring  it  to 
pass'  It  is  true  that  he  organized  no  board  of  missions, 
and  has  not  provided  financial  support  for  his  mes- 
sengers who  are  to  preach  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom. 
Besides  he  had  no  indorsement  from  the  rich  and  influ- 
ential, nor  had  he  the  patronage  of  kings,  or  the  sanction 
of  the  learned  and  great  of  earth.  On  the  contrary,  it 
was  bvit  a  short  time  after  he  said  that  this  great  work 
should  be  done,  that  he  was  betrayed  by  one  of  his  fol- 
lowers, denied  by  another,  forsaken  by  all  of  them,  and 
arrested,  scourged,  and  crucified  as  a  criminal.  Even 
now  the  prophecy  is  unfulfilled,  though  so  many  hun- 
dreds of  years  have  elapsed  since  it  was  made ;  yet  there 
is  much  to  encourage  in  what  has  been  done  during  the 


22  HISTOKY    OF    Tllli 

present  century.  Though  there  is  much  lieathenism 
abroad,  and  skepticism  and  ungodliness  at  home,  the 
gospel  is  now  preached  to  much  of  the  world,  and  Christ 
has  a  large  following,  and  of  the  best  people  living. 

One  of  the  sad  things,  and  that  which  much  retards 
the  2:)rogress  of  Christianity  in  heathen  lands,  is  the 
demoralizing  influence  of  wick-ed  men  from  enlightened 
countries,  Avho  indulge  in  the  grossest  vices  among  the 
heathen,  who  in  many  instances  regard  these  as  repre- 
senting the  religion  and  civilization  taught  by  Christ 
and  his  gospel.  It  is  a  humiliating  fact  that  many 
heathen  first  hear  the  names  of  God  and  Christ  in  pro- 
fane swearing.  Then  the  falsehoods,  deceptions,  frauds, 
drunkenness,  debauchery,  and  other  great  vices  perpe- 
trated among  the  heathen  by  those  from  Christian  lands, 
do  much  to  hinder  the  feeble  efforts  put  forth  to  bring 
the  world  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth,  as  it  is  in  Christ. 
The  progress  the  gospel  has  made,  considering  the  fact 
that  it  has  had  tenfold  more  to  contend  with  than  it 
would  have  had  had  the  church  been  tenfold  more  active 
in  disseminating  the  truth,  is  highly  encouraging,  and  is 
proof  conclusiYe  that  it  will  eventually  triumph  r)ver  all 
opposition.  One  of  the  great  wants  of  our  time  is  a 
higher  type  of  Christian  rectitude  in  the  lives  and  leg- 
islation of  churches  and  governments.  The  liquor  tralhc 
carried  on  in  heathen  countries,  and  the  licensing  of 
prostitution  among  the  heathen  for  the  accommodation 
of  soldiers  and  sailors,  thus  dragging  women  into  the 
lowest  infamy,  are  things  which  shcndd  bring  deep 
humiliation  to  the  church  of  Christ,  as  well  as  all 
lovers  of  morality  and  good  society.  The  reign  of  Christ 
cannot  be  universal  until  Christian  governments  abso- 
lutely cease  to  do  evil  and  learn  to  do  well,  and  this 
will  be  brought  about  by  the  combined  efforts  of  the 
pure  and  good  demanding  such  reforms. 


UNITED  BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  23 


CHAPTER   IV. 

Missionary  century — Dr.  Cary,  in  1792  —  Opposed  to  missions  because 
"  We  have  no  religion  to  spare" — Giving  to  others  the  best  way  to 
retain  what  we  have  —  How  a  minister  in  Indiana  was  made  happy — 
How  a  man  was  kept  from  committing  suicide,  and  was  led  to  help 
others. 

Dark  as  is  the  picture  of  the  moral  condition  of  the 
world,  there  is  much  to  encourage  the  church  in  its 
efforts  to  bring  it  under  the  influence  of  Christianity. 
Prof  Christlieb  very  properly  says  this  is  the  missionary 
century.  Much  more  has  been  done  in  the  last  one 
hundred  years  than  ever  before,  and  the  success  achieved 
Avas  thought  to  be  impossible  previous  to  this  centur}'. 

When  Dr.  Cary  pleaded  the  cause  of  foreign  missions, 
in  1792,  he  was  told  that  "  When  God  pleases  to  convert 
the  heathen,  he  will  do  it  without  your  aid  or  mine." 
But  a  few  years  later,  a  General  Assembly  in  Scotland 
declared  that  "the  idea  of  converting  the  heathen  was 
highly  preposterous."  When  the  American  Board  applied 
to  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts  for  a  charter,  about 
eighty  years  ago,  to  make  it  a  legal  organization  whose 
aims  Avere  to  give  the  gospel  to  the  heathen,  it  Avas 
opposed  on  the  ground  that,  "We  have  no  religion  to 
spare."  That  member  of  said  legislature,  as  too  many 
still,  lost  sight  of  the  fact,  "There  is  that  scattereth,  and 
yet  increaseth ;  and  there  is  that  AA'ithhoIdeth  more  than 
is  meet,  but  it  tendeth  to  2:)0verty."  The  surest  way  to  keej') 
some  things,  is  to  give  them  freely  to  others.  A  man  of 
extensive  reading,  and  Avho  has  visited  places  of  great 
note,  by  frequently  communicating   to   his  felloAA'-men 


24  HISTORY   OF    THE 

the  knowledge  thus  gained,  tlicreby  more  surely  retains 
it.  This  is  true  of  the  Christian  religion ;  the  more  we 
help  others  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Christ 
Jesus,  the  more  surely  we  will  retain  it  ourselves.  Not 
only  did  Solomon  teaeh  that  the  1)est  Avay  to  inerease 
was  to  scatter  abroad,  and  that  to  withhold  was  to  grow 
poor,  but  the  same  great  truth  is  taught  in  the  Xew 
Testament,  "  He  which  soweth  sparingly  shall  reap  also 
sj^aringly ;  and  he  which  soweth  bountifully  shall  reap 
also  bountifully."  Remember  that  this  language  of  the 
apostle  was  used  to  excite  the  Corinthians  to  greater 
liberality,  and  that  in  the  same  connection  he  quoted, 
"It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive."  The  divine 
economy,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  and  different  as  it  is 
from  that  which  is  purely  worldly,  is  not  only  to  freely 
give,  heccnisc  we  have  freely  received,  but  to  freely  give 
that  we  may  retain  ivhat  ive  have,  and  continue  to  freely 
receive.  On  the  principle  that  the  one  man  who  was 
nearly  frozen  to  death  brought  increased  warmth  and 
strength  to  himself  by  exerting  what  he  had  to  the 
utmost  of  his  ability,  in  rul)bing  and  helping  a  fellow- 
sufferer  who  Avas  also  caught  in  the  terrible  snow-storm 
which  came  upon  them  when  far  away  from  any  habita- 
tion, so  by  helping  others  to  the  waters  of  the  well  of 
salvation,  we  draw  fuller  supplies  therefrom /or  ourselves. 
"He  that  watereth  shall  be  watered  also  himself." 

A  minister  in  the  State  of  Indiana,  on  a  cold  day 
met  a  girl  on  the  street  of  the  city  in  which  he  was 
preaching,  who  asked  him  for  some  money.  Her  ema- 
ciated face,  scanty  clothing,  and  imjjloring  look,  all 
indicated  that  she  was  indeed  in  want.  This  man  of 
God,  Avith  l)ut  tAventy-five  cents  in  his  pocket,  and  Avliose 
OAvn  Avants  Avere  not  as  fully  met  as  he  desired  by  the 
salary  he  received,  felt  he  ought  to  give  something,  and 


UNITED    BTIETIIREN    MISSIONS.  2o 

as  what  little  he  had  was  all  in  one  piece  of  money,  he 
gave  it  and  passed  on.  The  following  week,  while  in 
his  study,  he  became  unusually  happy,  so  much  so  that 
it  led  him  to  wonder  why  it  should  be  thus.  He  had 
not  been  asking  God  for  special  blessing,  nor  could 
he  think  of  any  reason  why  such  ecstacy  of  joy  should 
come  to  him  thus  unexpectedl3^  While  he  was  pon- 
dering the  matter,  and  puzzling  himself  concerning  it, 
suddenly  the  beggar-girl  and  his  giving  her  the  last 
piece  of  money  he  had,  flashed  upon  him,  and  it  was  all 
made  plain,  and  through  his  tears  of  joy,  he  raised  his 
eyes  to  heaven  and  said,  "0  Lord,  this  is  a  good  deal 
for  twenty-five  cents  given  to  a  poor  girl." 

Another  case  is  given,  which  illustrates  how  helping 
others  saved  a  man  from  committing  suicide,  and  made 
his  life  which  had  been  wretched,  happy.  This  man  was 
on  his  Avay  to  the  river  to  drown  himself.  Meeting  a 
bo}'  who  asked  money  for  his  mother,  v.ho  was  greatly 
afflicted,  the  man  thought  as  he  was  going  to  end  his  life 
he  would  not  need  money  for  himself,  and  gave  the  boy 
all  he  had  in  his  pocket,  which  was  several  dollars.  The 
gift  so  rejoiced  the  boy  that  he  shouted,  "  This  will  make 
my  mother  and  all  of  us  happy."  The  man  concluded 
to  accompany  the  boy  and  see  what  the  effect  would  be. 
They  went  into  a  narrow  alley  of  the  city,  and  up  a 
rickety  stairway  to  a  room  in  which  a  woman  was  lying 
on  some  straw.  The  boy  ran  up  to  her  and  shouted 
again,  "  Oh,  mamma,  look  at  what  this  gentleman  gave 
me,"  putting  down  all  the  money  he  had  received.  This 
made  her  happy  also.  Seeing  the  blessed  effects  of  his 
gift,  the  man  thought  he  would  go  back  to  his  boarding- 
house  where  he  had  some  more  money,  and  distribute  it 
among  the  poor  before  he  would  accomplish  the  end  for 
which  he  had  started   in   the   morning,  viz.,  to  drown 


2G  HISTORY   OF    THE 

himself.  As  he  had  no  friends  to  whom  to  leave  his 
money  this  seemed  a  relief  to  him.  On  his  -way  back  he 
began  to  reason  on  the  situation,  and  the  thought  came 
to  him  that  though  he  had  nothing  to  live  for  especially, 
yet  he  might  be  a  source  of  blessing  to  others  with  the 
money  at  his  disposal.  The  result  was  the  man  did  not 
commit  suicide,  but  lived  and  learned  to  be  happy  by 
making  others  happy.  These  illustrations  show  fully 
that  by  doing  good  to  others,  good  is  received;  or,  in  other 
words,  by  blessing  others,  we  l)less  ourselves.  Nothing  is 
more  fully  established  than  the  fact  that  there  is  always 
a  reflex  influence  coming  to  those  who  do  good  in  the 
name  of  Christ,  or  who  are  prompted  by  pure  motives 
in  their  efibrts  to  promote  the  good  of  their  fellow-men. 


UNITED   BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  27 


CHAPTER   V. 

Work  of  the  last  hundied  years — Dver  one  hundred  missionary  organi- 
zations—  Sixteen  million  dollars  now,  instead  of  five  hundred  thou- 
sand at  the  beginning  of  this  century  —  The  Bible  translated  into 
many  languages,  and  circulating  freely  even  in  Catholic  countries  — 
Great  success  of  missions  in  India,  China,  Japan,  Madagascar,  Sand- 
wich and  Fiji  islands. 

But  now  I  wish  to  give  a  chapter  showing  that  the 
work  done  within  the  last  one  hundred  years,  especially 
the  last  fifty,  in  the  mission  cause,  as  well  as  the  outlook 
for  the  future,  is  highly  encouraging.  There  are  now 
over  one  hundred  missionary  organizations,  which  have 
for  their  object  the  extension  of  the  gospel  into  all 
the  world.  Taking  into  the  account  the  opposition  to 
missions  which  Drs.  Gary,  Judson,  and  similar  great 
missionaries  encountered  when  they  urged  that  they 
might  go  to  the  heathen,  and  that  the}'  had  no  mission 
boards  to  whom  they  could  offer  their  services,  this  fact 
is  remarkable.  It  is  only  about  fifty  years  since  a 
German  professor  apologized  for  founding  a  missionary 
society  in  Fatherland.  Now  there  are  twenty-five  upon 
the  continent,  and  as  many  more  in  Great  Britian  alone. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  not  quite  a  half 
million  dollars  was  given  to  missions,  against  sixteen 
millions  now.  Theli  there  were  two  hundred  ordained 
missionaries,  and  very  few  native  helpers  in  foreign 
lands ;  now  there  are  three  thousand  ordained  men,  and 
thirty  thousand  other  workers,  native  and  foreign.  These 
have  not  less  than  twelve  thousand  schools  with  forty 
thousand  pupils  in  them.     The  Word  of  God  has  been 


28  HISTORY   OF   THE 

translated  into  two  hundred  and  twenty-six  languages, 
and  is  being  Avidely  distributed  in  man}'  portions  of  the 
world.  Even  in  Italy,  Spain,  Mexico,  and  other  Catholic 
countries,  where  heretofore  it  was  diilicult  to  circulate 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  owing  to  the  teaching  that  the 
common  people  ought  not  to  read  the  Bible,  thousands 
now  are  gladly  read,  and  thus  the  way  of  the  Lord  is 
being  prepared.  The  fact  that  many  steam-presses  are 
kept  busy  printing  the  word  of  God,  and  steam-ships 
and  cars  are  carrying  it  in  large  supplies  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth,  with  a  large  force  in  the  field  as  colporteurs  and 
missionaries  to  distribute  it  broadcast  among  all  classes 
of  men,  is  to  say  the  least  a  ver}'  hopeful  sign  of  the 
times.  But  not  only  are  these  ends  accomplished  l)y  and 
through  the  organizations  of  the  Christian  world,  but 
organizations  for  scientific  and  commercial  purposes  by 
their  explorations,  have  also  greatly  increased  the  facil- 
ities for  carrying  God's  word  to  the  unenlightened,  and 
in  some  instances  prepared  the  way  for  the  missionar}-. 
The  moral  aspect  of  the  world  is  quite  different  from 
what  it  was  one  hundred  years  ago.  The  outlook  is  very 
much  more  promising  for  the  speedy  conquest  of  the 
Avorld  to  Christ,  as  will  appear  still  more  fully  in  what 
is  to  follow.  So  much  space  is  given  to  this  subject  for 
the  purjoose  of  convincing  any  who  may  have  doubts  as 
to  the  possibility  of  Christianity's  becoming  universal. 
When  Dr.  Cary  entered  India,  less  than  one  hundred 
years  ago,  he  found  three  hundred  millions  of  people 
practicing  the  Hindoo  religion.  Their  system  of  caste 
and  their  superstition  which  had  been  degrading  them 
for  about  thirty  centuries,  made  their  condition  so 
deplorable  that  Dean  Scholier  exclaimed,  "Where  in 
all  the  world  is  there  such  a  Satandom  as  India?" 
Truly  it  looked  like  a  hopeless  task  to  Christianize  that 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  29 

country.  Now  there  are  over  one  hundred  thousand 
communicants  there,  though  that  field  has  never  had  a 
strong  missionary  force  in  it  considering  the  number  of 
people. 

Among  the  greatest  achievements  of  the  gospel, 
surpassing  Messrs.  Moody  and  San  key's  success,  and 
equalling  the  day  of  Pentecost,  is  the  wonderful  work  in 
routhern  India  under  the  labors  of  Messrs.  Williams 
and  Clough,  who  l)a})tized  over  eight  thousand  persons 
in  forty-six  days.  Tliis,  it  will  be  remembered,  occurred 
in  "  such  a  Satandom  "  as  the  above  named  Dean  thought 
could  not  be  found  elsewhere  in  all  the  world.  There 
had  been  so  little  done  in  this  same  field  for  several 
years  previous  that  the  Baptist  Board,  under  Avhose 
auspices  the  work  is  carried  on,  seriously  thought  of 
abandoning  it.  Now  for  nearly  twenty  years  remark- 
able success  has  attended  their  labors  there.  How  simi- 
lar in  this  respect  to  our  African  mission,  which  was 
also  so  wanting  in  results  as  to  cause  our  board  to  think 
of  abandoning  that  field.  The  last  ten  j^ears  God  has 
signally  blessed  our  work  there,  though  on  account  of 
war  and  for  want  of  funds  to  extend  the  work  as  could 
have  been  done  to  great  advantage,  much  less  has  been 
accomplished  than  under  other  circumstances  might  and 
doubtless  would  have  been. 

Marked  results  have  followed  the  Avork  done  in  China. 
When  Dr.  Morrison  entered  Canton,  in  1807,  he  found 
four  hundred  millions  in  China.  He  was  shut  out  from 
the  }>eople  largely  as  have  been  many  other  missionaries 
who  went  to  that  country  to  unfurl  the  banner  of  Christ. 
There  are  now  in  that  country  about  twenty-five  thou- 
sand Christian  communicants,  and  twice  that  number 
who  are  nominally  Christians.  Then,  in  Madagascar  the 
convert?  to  Christianitv,  on  good  authority,  are  said  to 


30  HISTORY   OF    THE 

be  larger  than  all  who  were  made  in  the  Roman  empire 
during  the  first  three  centuries  of  the  Christian  era. 
The  queen  herself  is  a  Christian,  and  Christianity  is  the 
common  law  of  that  island. 

It  was  most  fittingly  written  upon  the  tombstone  of 
Rev.  W.  Geddis,  in  the  Hebrides,  "  When  he  came  here 
there  were  no  Christians ;  when  he  left  us,  there  were  no 
heathen."  This  was  high  praise  to  the  power  of  the  gos- 
pel to  reform  and  save  men,  as  well  as  to  the  faithfulness 
of  the  missionary  who  introduced  it  among  that  people. 

Africa,  with  its  two  hundred  millions  of  souls  was  in 
a  truly  sad  plight  at  the  beginning  of  this  century,  and 
much  of  it  is  still,  but  very  marked  changes  for  the  bet- 
ter have  taken  place.  Offering  human  sacrifices,  feasting 
on  human  flesh,  worshiping  hideous  images  made  of 
wood,  stone,  earth,  and  iron,  as  well  as  snakes,  crocodiles, 
and  even  Satan  himself,  and  practicing  the  most  detest- 
able barbarities,  such  as  burning  witches,  murdering 
deformed  infants,  and  doing  other  equally  inhuman 
things,  are  much  less  frequent  now  than  then,  and  they 
will  continue  to  diminish  all  the  time.  It  is  not  hard 
to  understand  why  the  Dutch  settlers  in  South  Africa 
treated  the  natives  as  they  once  did,  and  by  a  mistaken 
policy  put  the  following  words  on  their  church  doors : 
"Dogs  and  Hottentots  are  not  admitted."  Now  in 
Africa,  where  many  of  the  people  were  so  brutal  as  to  be 
excluded  from  the  houses  of  worship,  there  are  at  least 
one  hundred  thousand  Christians,  and  many  thousand 
more  under  Christian  influence.  By  the  explorations  of 
Livingstone,  Stanley,  and  others,  the  continent  has  been 
l^enetrated,  roads  opened,  trading  and  mission  stations 
established  in  important  places,  so  that  now  multiplied 
thousands  are  reached  by  the  gospel  who  were  not  at  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century. 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  31 

Missions  in  Burmah,  India,  Japan,  Madagascar,  Sand- 
wich and  Fiji  islands,  and  other  places,  have  been  a 
great  success,  and  the  converts  in  connection  with  Prot- 
estant missions  in  heathen  countries  are  not  far  from 
three  millions.  More  access  is  had  to  the  jNIohamme- 
dans,  and  Christian  missions  among  them  are  succeeding 
better  now  than  ever  before.  The  papal  power  is  weak- 
ening also  in  many  countries,  especially  in  Europe. 
The  Greek  Church  is  becoming  more  Christian — at  least, 
less  barbarous.  All  these  things  point  in  the  right 
direction,  and  make  the  outlook  hopeful  for  the  future. 


32  HISTORY   OF   THE 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Seiitinient  becoming  more  friendly  to  missions  —  Churches  which  labor 
nicst  earnestly  to  enlighten  the  heathen,  grow  most  rapidly  at  home 
-  This  abundantly  illustrated  in  our  own  church  since  1S53  —  The 
old  negro's  and  the  Chinaman's  remarks — "I,o,  I  am  with  you 
alvva}^"  is  better  understood  now  than  formerly. 

But  not  only  have  very  marked  changes  taken  place  in 
heathen  lands  and  other  countries  in  which  the  religious 
condition  of  the  people  has  been  greatly  improved,  in 
the  last  hundred  years,  but  there  has  been  a  change  of 
sentiment  much  more  friendly  to  Christian  missions 
in  the  most  enlightened  countries,  which  demands  that 
they  be  prosecuted  more  vigorously.  The  expressions, 
"It  is  highly  preposterous  to  suppose  the  heathen  could 
be  converted,  and  if  God  wants  it  done  he  would  do 
it  wdthout  our  help,"  and  that  we  ought  not  charter  a 
missionary  society  because  "We  have  no  religion  to 
spare,"  the  one  coming  from  a  member  of  the  legis- 
lature and  the  other  from  a  doctor  of  divinity,  we  no 
longer  hear;  j'ea,  more,  we  would  laugh  men  to  scorn 
who  would  make  such  heterodox  statements  now,  and 
demand  that  their  places  be  vacated  for  those  who  had  a 
better  understanding  of  the  spirit  as  well  as  the  letter  of 
the  New  Testament.  The  facts  are  pretty  generally 
received  now,  that  the  surest  way  for  churches  and 
nations  to  keep  the  religion  of  Christ,  is  to  give  it  freely  to 
others ;  also,  that  God  does  want  the  heathen  converted, 
and  that  the  divine  plan  is  that  this  is  to  be  done 
through  human  instrumentality.  The  fact  is  easily 
demonstrated,  that  the  churches  which  are  earnestly 
laboring  to  enlighten  the  heathen,  grow  no  less  rapidly 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  '6'6 

at  home.  Indeed  those  most  liberal  in  the  support  of 
missions,  as  a  rule,  are  most  prosperous.  The  history 
of  our  own  denomination  is  a  good  illustration  of  this 
truth.  At  the  end  of  seventy-five  years  after  our  organ- 
ization, we  had  a  membership  not  to  exceed  forty-two 
thousand.  Then  a  board  of  missions  was  organized, 
and  we  heartily  engaged  in  sending  the  gospel  to  the 
heathen,  and  destitute  elsewhere,  and  in  the  next  fifteen 
years  we  doubled  our  membership,  and  now,  thirty-six 
years  after,  we  have  waked  up  to  the  fact  that  we  have 
more  to  do  than  merely  to  enjoy  the  means  of  grace  and 
reach  heaven  the  easiest  and  cheapest  way  possible.  God 
has  increased  our  membership  to  two  hundred  and  seven 
thousand,  eight  hundred.  In  these  thirty-six  years,  all 
our  colleges  as  well  as  Union  Biblical  Seminaiy,  our 
Sunday-school  work  as  also  the  church-erection  and  mis- 
sionary societies,  have  been  commenced  and  built  up. 
Our  printing  establishment,  also,  has  been  made  all  it  is 
since  then.  The  sentiment  is  becoming  deeply  fixed  in 
many  Christian  hearts,  that  to  helj)  to  save  others,  greatly 
conduces  to  our  own  spirituality  and  enjoyments.  The  ques- 
tion now  with  many  Christians  is  not  so  much  whether 
the  heathen  can  be  saved  without  the  gospel,  as  it  is 
ivhether  ice  can  be  saved  ivithout  giving  it  to  them. 

The  ciuaint  remark  of  the  old  negro,  "  The  world  do 
move,''  is  true,  and  it  moves  in  the  direction  of  right. 
All  things  human  must  have  a  beginning,  and  a  certain 
man  is  credited  with  saying  that  "There  was  an  end  to 
to  all  things,  except  to  his  Avooden  poker,  which  he  had 
burned  ofif,  and  hence  it  had  no  end."  The  command 
of  Christ,  "Preach  my  gospel  to  every  creature,"  is  no 
longer  looked  upon  as  being  an  impossibility,  or  as 
asking  too  much  at  the  hands  of  Christians.  On  the 
same  principle  that  a  Chinaman  exclaimed,  "  Too  mibchee, 


34  HISTORY   OF   THE 

too  muchee,''^  when  the  writer  told  him  nc  ought  not 
lie,  nor  steal,  nor  get  drunk,  hut  must  be  a  good  man, 
so  many  formerly  thought  it  too  much  to  ask  the  church 
to  give  the  gospel  to  all  men.  The  Chinaman  men- 
tioned, assented  to  a  part  of  what  he  was  asked  to  do, 
but  the  last  item,  he  a  good  man,  was  in  his  opinion 
making  an  unreasonable  demand  of  him.  How  true 
that  not  a  few  of  Christ's  professed  followers  foi-uicrly 
thought  that  to  be  good  themselves,  and  in  addition  to 
that,  give  money  and  time  to  enlighten  and  save  their 
fellow-men,  was  asking  too  much.  Sorry  to  say,  they 
have  not  all  died  yet,  but  are  very  rapidly  passing  away 
and  soon  all  will  be  gone.  There  was  one  great  difficulty 
formerly  in  the  way  of  earnest  missionary  work,  owing 
to  the  fact,  doubtless,  that  the  latter  part  of  Christ's 
commission,  "  Lo,  I  am  Avith  you  alway,  even  unto  the 
end  of  the  world,"  was  not  full}^  understood.  There  was 
a  time  when  Napoleon  Bonajjarte  was  called  France,  and 
also  the  "  one  hundred  thousand."  He  was  so  called 
because  his  presence  on  the  battle-field  Avas  regarded  as 
being  worth  one  hundred  thousand  soldiers,  and  because 
he  controlled  the  government,  army,  navy,  and  all  that 
France  possessed.  It  is  said  that  when  the  intelligence 
reached  him  that  his  navy  Avas  destroyed,  which  Avas  on 
the  same  day  the  scepter  of  Prussia  Avas  surrendered  to 
him,  he  petulantly  replied,  "  I  can't  be  everyAvhere." 

How  different  is  it  Avith  the  Captain  of  our  salvation, 
Avho  can  be  everyAvhere  and  Avho  can  give  victory  all 
along  the  line,  which  he  does  in  his  OAvn  good  time,  and 
in  Avaj^s  most  Avonderful.  His  Avords,  "  Lo,  I  am  with 
3^ou,"  are  noAV  more  and  more  understood  to  mean,  "  I 
am  Avith  you  "  to  help  a'ou  disciple  all  nations.  Christ 
is  the  church,  in  a  higher,  truer  sense  than  Bonaparte 
was  France,  and  hence,  Avhat  he  directs  it  to  do,  can  and 
will  be  fully  accomplished. 


UNITED    liUKTIlKEN    MIS.SIOiNS.  35 


CHAPTER    VII. 

Illustratioiis  of  early  piety  — A  boy's  logic  too  much  for  his  father — 
"We  have  heathen  at  home,"  no  reason  for  not  sending  the  gospel 
abroad  —  PraAicing  self-denial  makes  us  strong  in  the  Lord— The 
efforts  of  Cary,  Judson,  Livingstone,  and  others  quickened  into  new 
life  the  churches  they  left  behind— A  minister's  remark,  that  what 
he  had  given  to  God's  cause  was  all  he  had  left  to  him. 

There  is  still  another  change  in  Christian  lands 
which  marks  the  nineteenth  century  as  one  of  genuine 
progress,  and  makes  the  outlook  very  hopeful.  Fifty 
years  ago  it  was  not  thought  proper  for  young  people 
to  make  public  profession  of  religion  until  they  were 
eighteen  or  twenty  years  of  age,  except  in  very  rare 
instances,  such  as  occurred  in  the  cases  of  Bishop  Simp- 
son and  Dr.  Doddridge,  who  became  Christians  while 
mere  lads.  The  writer  will  never  forget  how  a  small 
girl  of  eight  years  of  age,  Avhose  mother  was  a  devout 
Christian,  pleaded  with  her  to  allow  her  to  go  forward 
and  give  her  hand  to  the  minister,  who  at  the  close  of 
communion  service  invited  persons  to  thus  indicate 
their  desire  to  unite  with  the  church.  Though  more 
than  forty  years  ago,  the  scene  is  quite  as  fresh  as  if  it 
had  happened  yesterday.  The  audience  was  standing, 
and  there  was  a  mother,  who  had  prayed  for  the  early 
conversion  of  all  her  children,  with  her  last  born  asking 
if  she  might  unite  with  the  church,  deeply  impressed  to 
do  so  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord.  The  mother  could  not 
say  no,  nor  did  she  feel  safe  to  say  yes,  and  so  she  said 
nothing.  The  child  went  forward,  and  by  the  joy  which 
beamed  from  her  young  face,  she  showed  that  she  well 


36  HISTORY   OF   THE 

understood  -what  it  meant  to  submit  to  Christ.  She 
lived  less  than  two  years  after  that  occurrence.  Being 
a  close  neighbor  and  her  Sunday-school  superintendent^ 
her  manner  f)f  life  and  her  calm  and  triumphant  death 
are  Avell  known  to  the  Avriter.  In  her  last  hours  she 
often  said  she  was  going  to  be  with  Jesus.  Another 
instance:  A  minister,  who  had  settled  near  Chicago, 
was  asked  by  his  son  to  allow  him  to  unite  with  the 
church.  He  was  told  that  he  had  better  wait  till  he  was 
stronger,  and  then  he  could  hold  out  better.  His  father, 
having  a  country  congregation,  kept  some  sheep.  He 
was  spending  a  Sunday  assisting  a  neighboring  pastor, 
on  a  communion  occasion,  having  gone  on  Saturday  and 
not  returning  until  Monday.  While  he  was  awa}'  the 
weather  became  very  cold,  and  this  caused  him  to  feel 
some  uneasiness  about  his  sheep,  especially  the  lambs, 
which\were  quite  young.  As  his  son  was  almost  always 
with  him  when  he  stabled  and  fed  his  sheep,  and  took  a 
deep  interest  in  their  welfare,  he  comforted  himself  with 
the  thought  that  the  boy  would  take  good  care  of  them. 
As  early  as  he  could  on  Monday,  he  reached  his  home, 
and  at  once  asked  the  boy  how  the  sheep  had  fared, 
sajdng,  "  You  stabled  them  and  fed  them,  and  brought 
all  the  lambs  in,  did  3'ou  ?  ''  The  son  rej^lied,  "  I  brought 
in  the  sheep  but  left  the  lambs  out."  The  father,  sur- 
prised and  somewhat  chagrined,  asked,  "  Why,  what 
made  you  do  that?"  The  boy  rei3lied,  "  I  left  them  out 
so  they  would  be  stronger  and  could  stand  it  better  when 
stabled,"  adding,  "  That  is  what  you  told  me,  father,  when 
I  asked  to  be  taken  into  the  sheepfold,  and  if  it  is  good 
for  boys,  why  not  for  lambs  ?  "  The  boy's  logic  was  too 
much  for  his  father,  and  at  the  next  communion  he  was 
admitted  into  the  church,  happy  to  be  counted  as  one  of 
Christ's  sheep.     Advice  like  that  of  the  old  lady  to  her 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  37 

son,  "  Stay  out  of  the  water  until  you  can  swim,"  is  no 
longer  thought  to  ]>('  best  for  children.  They  of  right 
belong  to  the  church,  and  should  be  Avelcomed  to  its 
privileges  when  they  feel  the  need  of  salvation,  and 
desire  to  confess  Christ. 

As  the  ho&pital  is  the  place  to  get  well  under  the 
skillful  treatment  and  care  of  doctor  and  nurse,  so  the 
church  is  now  considered  a  proper  place  to  be  cured  of 
the  malady  of  sin,  under  the  guidance  of  the  ministers 
of  Christ,  and  by  the  help  of  fathers  and  mothers 
and  Sunday-school  teachers  caring  for  the  lambs  of  the 
flock.  Surely,  the  sooner  children  are  rescued  from 
the  paths  of  worldliness  and  sin,  the  better,  and  it 
would  be  well  were  multiplied  thousands  in  it  who  are 
still  out,  i^rovided  they  received  such  attention  as  a 
spiritual  church  would  give.  A  genuine  missionary 
spirit  led  to  the  present  great  zeal  in  behalf  of  Sunday- 
schools,  and  the  formation  of  young  peoi3le's  Christian 
associations,  and  temperance  organizations,  all  of  Avhich 
not  only  labor  to  rescue  the  perishing,  but  to  snatch  the 
children  and  young  people  from  the  paths  of  Satan  in 
the  days  of  their  youth.  Christians  are  called  co-workers 
with  Christ  —  "as  Avorkers  together  with  him."  As 
such  they  are  expected  to  be  ready  for  every  good  Avord 
or  work.  The  apology  made,  ''  We  have  heathen  at 
home,"  as  a  reason  for  not  giving  money  to  send  the 
gospel  abroad,  has  lost  all  its  force  in  the  face  of  the  fact 
that  those  who  are  most  zealous  for  the  cause  of  foreign 
missions  do  most  for  the  home  work  of  the  church,  as  a 
rule.  There  is  harmony  in  all  the  divine  arrangements, 
and  hence  it  is  reasonable  that  earnest  Christian  workers 
do  Avhat  they  can  everywhere  to  save  mankind. 

God  carries  forward  his  work  through  the  instrumen- 
tality of  the  church.     He  miijht  have  written  his  law 


o6  HISTORY   OF   THE 

upon  the  sky,  and  commissioned  angels  to  preach  the 
gospel,  and'also  created  a  gold  mine  to  furnish  all  money 
needed  for  charity,  but  he  saw  it  was  best  that  his 
people,  for  their  development  in  benevolence,  s^'mpathy, 
and  self-denying  labor,  should  do  the  work  he  requires 
in  his  Avord.  How  strong  in  God  and  in  the  power  of 
his  might  are  Christians  made  by  practicing  self-denial ! 
Faithful  Sunday-school  teachers  often  feel  it  would  l)e  a 
great  relief  not  to  have  to  study  the  lesson  and  go  to 
school  when  other  cares  press  upon  them,  but  how  much 
such  persons  grow  in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge'  of 
Christ  by  faithfulness!  Now,  as  they  increase  their 
knowledge  of  God's  Avord,  and  their  strength  to  fight 
the  battles  of  the  Lord  by  thus  laboring  to  help  their 
pupils,  so  i^raying,  working,  and  paying  to  give  the 
gospel  to  the  heathen  is  truly  a  means  of  grace  to 
those  who  do  these  things  in  the  spirit  of  the  Master. 
While  the  efforts  of  Car}^,  Judson,  Livingstone,  and 
others  Avere  put  forth  to  bring  those  to  Christ  who  kncAV 
nothing  of  him,  hoAV  truly  Avere  Christians  in  the  lands 
from  Avhich  they  had  gone  quickened  into  ncAV  spiritual 
life.  Their  going  abroad  did  more  to  cause  the  churches  at 
home  to  consecrate  themselves  fully  to  the  Master^  tlian  they 
could  have  done  had  they  remained  at  home.  Not  only  Avere 
the  denominations  to  Avhich  they  l)elonged  much  pros- 
pered at  home,  by  becoming  deeply  interested  in  foreign 
missions,  but  all  Christendom  Avas  greatly  helped. 

HoAV  true  the  statement  made  b}'  a  Christian  minister, 
Avho  at  one  time  had  considerable  i)roperty,  all  of  Avliich 
Avas  SAvept  aAvay  by  a  great  flood,  leaving  him  penniless, 
that  AA'hat  he  had  given  to  the  Lord's  cause  Avas  all  that 
Avas  left  to  him.  Being  made  in  a  meeting-house  that 
AA'as  largely  l)uilt  by  the  money  of  said  minister,  and 
which  had  Ijeen  a  great  blessinii;  to  tlic  town  in  Avhich 


UNITED    P.KETITREN    MISSIONS.  ^  39 

it  was,  this  declaration  was  received  with  joy  by  the 
people,  who  were  made  happy  to  see  how  glad  he  was 
that  while  he  had  money  he  used  it  freely  for  God's 
cause.  All  knew  that  if  it  had  not  thus  been  used,  it 
too  would  have  been  swept  away. 


40  HlfSTOBY    OF    THE 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

From  1S53  to  1857. 

Organization  of  Missionary  Societj' — Worjc  commenced  in  Missouri, 
Michigan,  Nebraska,  Canada,  and  California  —  Missionaries  sent  to 
Africa  —  Co-operation  with  American  Missionary  Association  —  Prog- 
ress of  work  upon  home,  frontier,  and  foreign  missions  during  the 
four  3^ears. 

The  preceding  jDages  have  prepared  the  reader  to  more 
fully  understand  and  appreciate  the  history  of  missions 
in  the  Church  of  the  United  Brethren  in  Christ  during; 
the  period  embraced  in  this  volume,  which  is  from  the 
year  1853  to  1889. 

At  the  General  Conference  which  met  in  the  month  of 
May,  1853,  the  Home,  Frontier,  and  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  was  organized.  Bishop  J.  J.  Glossbrenner  was 
elected  president,  Rev.  J.  C.  Bright,  corresponding  secre- 
tary, and  Rev.  J.  Kemp,  treasurer,  and  these,  with  nine 
other  persons,  some  of  whom  were  laymen,  constituted 
its  board.  INIr.  Bright  was  a  zealous  and  efhcient  M:orker 
in  the  cause  of  missions,  and  by  the  stirring  addresses 
which  he  delivered  at  the  annual  confeuences  and  other 
places  he  visited,  aroused  the  Church  to  a  sense  of  its 
duty  in  behalf  of  the  heathen  and  all  who  were  Avithout 
the  means  of  grace,  such  as  it  had  never  before  experi- 
enced. Money  came  into  the  treasury  freely,  and  work 
was  commenced  in  earnest.  Two  missions  Were  located, 
one  in  Southwestern  Missouri  and  the  other  in  Canada, 
and  all  the  arrangements  Avere  made  to  send  missionaries 
to  Africa  during  the  year. 

The  first  annual  mecfin;/  of  the  hoard  occurred  in  Wester- 


UNITED    BKETHKEX    MISSIONS.  41 

ville,  Ohio,  June  1,  1854.  An  executive  committee  had 
been  constituted  by  the  board  soon  after  its  organiza- 
tion, consisting  of  five  of  its  own  members,  which  had 
frequent!}^  met  during  the  year  and  transacted  a  good 
deal  of  business,  as  the  results  of  the  year's  work  show. 

Revs.  J.  Conner  and  J.  Kenoyer  had  headed  a  colon}'' 
Avhicli  had  gone  overland  to  Oregon,  in  the  summer  of 
1853,  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  the  Church  in  that 
new  and  far-off  land.  The}'  had  held  their  first  quar- 
terly meeting  in  that  country  some  weeks  before  the 
first  annual  meeting  of  the  board  in  June,  1854,  to 
which  they  sent  a  report,  which  stated  that  they  had 
witnessed  a  number  of  conversions  and  accessions  to  the 
Church  as  the  result  of  their  labors  in  Oregon,  and  that 
the  outlook  was  encouraging.  Rev.  J.  Terrel,  who  had 
been  sent  to  Southwestern  Missouri  during  the  year, 
reported  that  his  success  was  quite  satisfactory,  and  that 
forty  more  missionaries  could  find  plenty  to  do  in  that 
part  of  the  State. 

A  mission  conference  had  also  been  formed  in  the 
State  of  Michigan,  respecting  which  the  secretary  in  his 
report  to  the  board  said,  "  No  field  in  the  Church  bids . 
fairer  to  yield  a  plentiful  harvest  than  this."  During 
the  year  ex-Bishop  Erb  had  commenced  a  mission  in 
Canada,  and  reported  to  the  board,  "Tlie  gospel  wants 
are  numerous,  and  the  prospects  for  our  church  are  good 
here."  Missions  had  been  commenced  also  in  the  states 
of  Kansas,  Nebraska,  and  California,  and  steps  taken  to 
project  missions  among  the  Germans  of  the  United 
States  and  in  behalf  of  the  heathen  of  West  Africa. 
Rev.  W.  J.  Shuey  was  appointed  a  missionary  to  Africa 
at  this  first  meeting  of  the  board. 

The  board  left  home  missions  to  the  management  of 
the  self-supporting  annual  conferences,  each  conference, 


42  HISTORY    OF    TlIK 

by  the  constitution  of  the  missionary  society,  being  a 
branch  of  the  parent  society,  and  as  such  controlled  its 
own  missions.  Some  of  the  annual  conferences  had 
been  doing  home  missionary  work  on  a  small  scale, 
before  the  creation  of  the  board  of  missions  in  1853,  but 
now  that  a  general  organization  was  effected,  including 
the  whole  Church  as  its  patron,  and  the  Avhole  world  as 
its  field  of  labor,  new  life  was  infused  into  the  annual 
conferences,  so  that  they  did  much  more  for  home  mis- 
sions than  before,  besides  giving  quite  liberal!}'  foi" 
frontier  and  foreign  missions. 

The  following  action  of  the  board,  at  its  iirst  meeting, 
shows  the  spirit  which  it  possessed  and  the  views  it 
entertained  as  to  the  work  to  be  done : 

''We  originated  in  a  revival  of  religion  among  the 
Germans  of  America,  and  our  first  preachers  were  home 
missionaries,  hunting  up  the  destitute.  Thousands  of 
converts  were  made,  who  were  gathered  into  other 
churches,  as  our  own  German  ministers  did  not  organize 
them.  The  spirit  of  Church  extension  has  been  con- 
stantly increasing  among  us,  and,  God  be  praised,  our 
labors  have  been  owned  and  blessed  in  the  conversion 
to  Christ  of  thousands  of  precious  souls.  The  conver- 
sion of  the  millions  who  have  found  homes  in  America, 
and  of  those  who  are  annually  seeking  homes  here, 
is  a  work  of  great  importance.  German  rationalism, 
so  called,  has  its  hundreds  of  propagators  in  this  land; 
atheism,  bold  and  fool-hardy,  has  its  zealous  advocates, 
and  the  depravity  of  thousands  causes  them  to  wish 
in  their  hearts  there  were  no  God.  Societies  claiming 
to  be  Christian,  but  denying  every  fundamental  doc- 
trine of  the  Bible,  are  industriously  making  proselytes 
to  their  errors;  Roman  Catholicism  is  employing  all  its 
resources  to  gain  possession  of  this  land;  the  Protestant 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  43 

evangelical  churches,  most  of  them,  have  greatly  weak- 
ened their  moral  power  by  the  unholy  compromises 
which  they  have  made  with  popular  sins.  As  a  conse- 
quence of  these  things,  a  very  large  proportion  of  the 
people  are  ungodly.  Hence  a  mighty  work  of  grace  is 
needed  in  every  state,  county,  and  town  in  America. 
Watchmen  should  go  forth  throughout  this  land  in  the 
■  true  spirit  of  evangelists.  In  our  efforts  for  the  salva- 
tion of  the  heathen,  we  should  not  diminish  our  Inl^ors 
at  home.  ^Millions  here  are  yet  without  God  and  hope 
in  the  world. 

"We  will  continue  to  conjure  our  brethren  by  all  their 
love  of  that  most  lovely  One  who  gave  his  life  for  the 
redemption  of  the  whole  human  race,  by  all  their  deep 
sympathy  for  down-trodden  and  degraded  humanity, 
and  by  every  throb  of  the  heart  that  beats  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  good  and  brave,  to  listen  to  the  voice  of 
lamentation  and  woe  coming  up  from  the  continent  of 
Africa. 

"In  the  propagation  of  Christianity,  both  at  home 
and  abroad,  we  regard  the  law  of  God  as  paramount 
to  all  human  compacts  and  as  the  foundation  of  moral 
obligation.  Hence  no  human  law  can  be  binding  upon 
the  conscience  if  it  clearly  comes  in  conflict  with  the 
law  of  God. 

"The  first  Monday  evening  in  each  month  shall  be  set 
apart  for  jDrayer  for  the  success  of  missions." 

Thirty-five  years  have  come  and  gone  since  these  very 
excellent  resolutions  were  put  into  the  minutes  of  the 
board.  So  sound  in  doctrine,  evangelical  in  spirit,  and 
applicable  to  the  present  time  are  they  that  they  are 
worthy  a  place  in  the  history  of  missions  —  yea,  they 
constitute  a  very  important  jxirt  of  the  history  couched 
in  the  pages  of  this  book.     The  l)oard  felt  that  to  accom- 


44  HISTORY   OF   THE 

plish  the  work  God  had  for  the  Church  to  do  in  the  great 
cause  of  missions,  it  must  adopt  scriptural  methods  of 
working,  and  pray  much  for  the  divine  blessing  upon  its 
efforts  to  save  men. 

The  second  annual  meeting  of  the  hoard  convened  in 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  July  26,  1855.  The  secretary  in  his 
report  said:  "At  the  last  annual  meeting,  Rev.  W.  J. 
Shuey  received  an  appointment  to  Africa.  Subsequently 
Dr.  D.  C.  Kumler  and  Rev.  D.  K.  Flickinger  accepted  ap- 
pointments from  the  executive  committee.  They  sailed 
from  New  York  in  January,  and  reached  Freetown,  Sierra 
Leone,  the  first  of  March.  After  having  accomplished 
what  they  conceived  to  be  their  duty,  Messrs.  Shuey  and 
Kumler .  returned  to  this  country.  Mr.  Flickinger  re- 
mained. He  feels  he  has  a  work  to  do  there,  and  is  pre- 
,pared  to  suffer,  and,  if  need  be,  die  at  his  post." 

The  American  Missionary  Association  of  Xew  l^ork 
had  commenced  a  mission  about  ten  years  before,  one 
hundred  and  twenty  miles  south  of  Freetown,  known  as 
Mendi  mission,  consisting  of  three  stations.  Rev.  George 
Thompson  was  in  charge  at  Kaw-Mendi,  Rev.  J.  S.  Brooks 
at  Mo-Tappan,  and  Mr.  D.  W.  Burton  at  Good  Hope 
station.  The  last  named  is  located  in  Bonthe,  a  town 
of  considerable  size  at  present.  Other  American  mis- 
sionaries were  at  these  stations,  all  of  whom  showed 
great  kindness  to  the  United  Brethren  missionaries. 
The  secretary  of  the  American  Missionary  Association, 
Rev.  George  Whipple,  had  given  them  letters  of  intro- 
duction to  those  in  charge  of  Mendi  mission,  and  the 
terms  upon  which  the  missionaries  of  the  two  societies 
should  co-operate.  Our  missionaries  made  Good  Hope 
station  their  headquarters,  it  being  favorably  located  for 
the  work  of  exploration  to  which  they  gave  themselves 
while  the  three  remained  in  Africa,  which  was  between 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  45 

two  and  three  months.  During  this  time,  Mo-Kelli,  on 
the  Jong  river,  was  selected  as  a  place  for  beginning. 

Soon  after  Messrs.  Shuey  and  Kumler  returned  home, 
Mr.  Flickinger  became  fully  convinced  that  it  was  im- 
practicable to  open  a  mission  station  at  Mo-Kelli,  as  it 
was  about  forty-five  miles  inland,  and  ten  miles  above 
the  falls  in  the  Jong  river,  and  hence  very  difficult  to 
reach  from  the  coast.  It  is  not  yet  occupied  by  us,  but 
it  ought  to  be  added  to  the  four  hundred  towns  into 
which  our  itinerants  have  gone,  and  are  going.  Mr. 
Flickinger  visited  many  places  to  find  a  suitable  loca- 
tion, having  ascended  the  Big  Boone  river  twice,  a  dis- 
tance of  one  hundred  miles,  once  alone  in  a  native  canoe, 
and  another  time  with  Mr.  Brooks,  in  his  boat;  but 
owing  to  many  hindrances,  he  failed  to  do  so.  Mean- 
while, he  obtained  valuable  information  of  the  country 
and  its  wants,  and  preached  the  gospel  to  many  heathen. 
At  this  meeting,  the  board  appointed  him  superinten- 
dent of  the  African  mission,  instead  of  Mr.  Shuey,  who 
had  occupied  the  position  up  to  that  time.  It  also  ap- 
pointed two  more  men  to  go  to  Africa,  but  for  some 
reason  they  never  went. 

The  frontier  missions  of  the  Church  progressed  more 
satisfactorily,  during  the  year,  than  the  foreign.  Michi- 
gan Conference,  which  had  been  organized  but  a  little 
over  a  year,  reported  an  increase  of  one  hundred  and 
ninety-five  members.  The  work  in  Oregon  had  gone  for- 
w^ard  well,  and  mission  conferences  had  been  organized 
in  Oregon  and  Canada  with  rather  flattering  prospects. 
Missions  in  Kansas  and  Nebraska  were  strengthened  by 
an  additional  missionary  to  each,  and  were  succeeding 
well.  The  German  missions  in  Ohio  and  Indiana  had 
been  prosperous ;  but  far  less  had  been  attempted  than 
should  have  been  done  on  this  field.     There  had  been  a 


46  HISTORY    OF    TIIK 

missionary  appointed  to  California,  but  he  failed  to  go. 
Missions  had  been  projected  also  in  the  states  of  ^Minne- 
sota  and  Tennessee,  and  the  outlook  "was  good  through- 
out this  department  of  work. 

The  following,  in  the  secretary's  report  to  this  meet- 
ing, shows  conclusively  that  efforts  to  enlighten  the 
heathen,  and  give  the  gospel  to  the  destitute  in  frontier 
fields,  were  very  effectual  in  stimulating  greater  liber- 
ality for  home  missions:  "Contributions  to  our  home 
missions  this  year  exceed  those  of  last  year  S2,200.  "We 
have  ninety  itinerants  in  this  field,  who  preach  at  over 
six  hundred  places,  and  who  arc  winning  many  souls  to 
Christ."  The  secretary's  rejjort  also  said:  "It  is  vain  to 
suppose  that  suital^le  houses  of  worship  can  be  built  in 
new  states  and  territories  without  help  from  abroad. 
Let  a  systematic  plan  for  raising-  a  Church-extension 
fund  be  brought  before  the  conferences  for  their  adop- 
tion." Successful  missionary  work  developes  many 
wants,  such  as  building  churches,  parsonages,  establish- 
ing Sunday-schools,  and  supplying  them  with  books  and 
papers.  To  do  these  things,  money  is  needed.  The  aim  of 
the  board  has  been  to  train  the  people  upon  its  missions 
to  do  what  they  can.    It  also  furnishes  help  when  needed. 

At  this  meeting  the  duties  of  the  executive  committee 
were  defined,  as  follows:  "(!•)  It  shall  execute  the  ex- 
pressed Avishes  of  the  board.  (2.)  It  shall  fill  vacancies 
occasioned  by  death  or  resignation.  (3.)  It  may  suspend 
missionaries  in  cases  of  immorality,  or  manifest  unfit- 
ness for  the  work.  (4.)  It  shall  make  additional  appro- 
priations in  cases  of  extraordinary  emergencies.  (5.)  It 
shall  settle  questions  concerning  the  management  of 
missions.  (6.)  It  shall  exercise  a  vigilant  supervision 
of  the  whole  missionary  work.  (7.)  It  shall  stand  for 
the  board  in  all  cases  requiring  immediate  action." 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  47 

The  hoard  hcla  its  third  annual  meeting  in  Mt*.  Pleas- 
ant, Pennsylvania,  June  5,  1856.  Mr.  Flickinger  had 
reached  the  United  States  about  two.Aveeks  before,  his 
physician  in  Africa  having  ordered  him  awa}'  from  there 
for  a  change.  During  his  stay  in  Africa  he  had  several 
severe  attacks  of  fever,  his  life  was  despaired  of,  and 
for  several  months  before  he  left,  he  was  unable  to  Avork. 
ResiDectinghim  and  the  work  in  Africa,  the  board  said: 
"We  regard  it  as  of  the  utmost  importance  that  our 
work  in  Africa  be  prosecuted  vigorously.  We  are  satis- 
fied that  Rev.  D.  K.  Flickinger  did  his  duty  as  a  mis- 
sionary in  Africa,  and  Avelcome  him  as  a  brother  beloved 
in  the  Lord  to  this  meeting."  Here  the  board  appointed 
Revs.  W.  B.  Witt  and  J.  K.  Billheimer  to  go  to  Africa 
with  Mr.  Flickinger  the  following  December,  which  they 
did. 

Before  Mr.  Flickinger  left  Africa  in  the  spring  of  1856, 
he  purchased,  by  the  advice  of  the  executive  committee, 
a  house  and  lot  in  Freetown,  as  a  home  for  missionariesi' 
There  Avere  no  hotels  there  at  which  they  could  stop, 
and  as  this  was  the  place  they  must  land  from  vessels,  or 
embark  to  go  on  them,  and  as  they  had  occasion  to  be  in 
Freetown  to  get  supplies  of  food  and  medicines,  it  was 
thought  wise  to  have  such  a  home.  Such  necessity  still 
exists  there,  as  this  house  had  to  be  sold  in  1861  to  get 
money  to  keep  the  mission  alive ;  other  strange  sacrifices 
Avere  also  made,  which  Avill  appear  further  on  in  this 
narrative.  It  is  a  great  pity  this  propertj^  had  to  be 
sold,  as  more  than  its  cost  —  tAVO  thousand,  four  hundred 
dollars  —  has  been  paid  in  rent  for  a  mission-house  in 
Freetown  since  its  sale.  Such  a  mission-house  has  been, 
and  Avill  likely  ahvays  be  a  necessity  as  long  as  our  mis- 
sion continues  in  that  part  of  Africa. 

The  secretary,  in  his  report  to  the  board  at  this  meet- 


48  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ing,  said  that  the  j-ear  closed  prosperously,  which  should 
call  forth  praise  to  God.  In  Oregon,  Nebraska,  Kansas, 
Missouri,  and  Canada,  tlio  work  had  gone  forward  well, 
and  the  new  missions  which  had  been  commenced  during 
the  year,  had  a  good  beginning.  lie  also  said  there  were 
good  openings  for  projecting  new  missions,  but  the  lack 
of  both  men  and  money  prevented  this.  One  very  grati- 
fying fact  which  began  to  be  developed,  was  the  increase 
of  home  missionary  work  and  success  within  the  bounds 
of  the  annual  conferences.  Mission  conferences  and 
some  frontier  missions  were  becoming  self-supporting. 
An  aggressive  spirit,  largely  awakened  because  of  the 
missionary  activity  in  the  Churcii,  pervaded  every  de- 
partment of  church  work. 

The  following,  taken  from  the  minutes  of  this  meet- 
ing, shows  the  disposition  of  the  board  in  respect  to  the 
work  to  be  done  at  home  and  abroad : 

"We  would  not  conceal  the  fact  that  the  moral  and 
physical  condition  of  Africa  presents  gigantic  obstruc- 
tions to  the  progress  of  the  gospel ;  and  were  it  not  for 
the  vast  importance  connected  with  its  evangelization, 
and  especially  for  the  positive  command  of  Christ  to  go 
there  and  preach,  we  should  abandon  the  work  in  des- 
j)air.  We  trust  the  Church  has  counted  the  cost,  and 
will  stand  by  the  board  in  every  emergency. 

"It  should  be  the  object  of  the  board  to  obtain  the 
contributions  of  every  member  of  the  Church,  because 
it  is  not  the  benefactions  of  the  rich  only,  but  the  con- 
tributions of  the  comparatively  poor,  accompanied  by 
their  tears  and  prayers,  that  are  to  be  relied  on  mainly 
to  swell  the  great  stream  of  Christian  benevolence ;  and 
these  can  best  be  secured  by  tlie  sermons,  visits,  and 
systematic  solicitation  of  faithful  pastors." 

As  an  illustration  of  hov;  marvelously  successful  the 


UNITED    BRKTIIKKN    iMI^SIONS.  49 

work  done  by  the  board  was,  in  some  instances,  the 
following  extract  from  the  report  of  one  of  the  branch 
secretaries,  made  at  this  meeting,  is  to  the  point : 

"  We  have  now  five  circuits,  and  seven  missions,  where 
four  years  since  we  had  only  two  missions.  Then  we 
had  less  than  one  hundred  members,  where  now  we  have 
thirteen  hundred.  At  our  last  annual  conference  Ave 
made  arrangements  to  sustain  thirteen  home  missions, 
and  two  have  been  taken  up  since,  making,  in  all,  fifteen 
missions ;  and  the  Lord  is  blessing  our  labor  on  all  these 
new  fields.  Four  fifths  of  the  money  necessary  to  main- 
tain these  missions  is  paid  by  the  missions  themselves." 

Then,  as  now,  there  were  mau}^  places,  even  in  our 
own  country,  greatly  needing  missionaries.  In  many  of 
these,  the  faithful  preaching  of  the  gospel  brought  forth 
abundant  fruit,  even  a  hundred-fold.  It  will  be  so  until 
the  end  of  time,  as  it  has  been  ever  since  the  great 
apostle  to  the  Gentiles  declared:  "It  [the  gospel]  is 
the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  be- 
lieveth."  "He  that  goeth  forth  and  weepeth,  bearing 
precious  seed,  shall  doubtless  come  again  with  rejoicing, 
bringing  his  sheaves  with  him." 

The  fourth  annual  session  of  the  board  took  place  in 
Hartsville,  Indiana,  May  8,  1857,  the  week  previous  to 
the  sitting  of  the  General  Conference.  Messrs.  Flick- 
inger,  Witt,  and  Billheimer  had  reached  Freetown  in 
January.  The  same  vessel  which  carried  them  there 
from  New  York  City,  proceeded  on  to  Liberia,  and  ^Ir. 
Flickinger  went  with  it,  to  see  if  that  was  a  hopeful 
field  for  mission  work.  He  remained  three  weeks,  when 
he  returned  to  Sierra  Leone,  fully  persuaded  that,  dark 
as  Avas  the  outlook  in  the  Sherbro  country,  it  was  the 
place  to  prosecute  the  Avork.  Before  he  returned  to  the 
United  States,  he  had  frequently  visited  Chief  Caulker 


50  HISTORY    OF    THE 

to  get  a  site  near  the  town  of  Shaingaj'.  He  now  re- 
doubled his  efforts,  and  after  several  more  trials,  with 
the  help  of  others,  especially  the  assistance  of  D.  "\V. 
Burton,  of  the  Mendi  mission,  finally  received  a  promise 
of  one  hundred  acres  of  land,  one  half  mile  from  Shain- 
gay,  -which  has  proved  to  1)e  an  exceedingly  pleasant  and 
healthy  place  for  a  mission  station.  The  most  i^ermanent 
and  valuable  buildings  of  Sherbro  mission  are  located 
here,  including  a  good  missionary  residence  with  six 
rooms ;  chapel,  thirty  by  forty-five  feet ;  Clark  Theologi- 
cal Training-School  building,  thirty-one  by  sixty-six 
feet,  and  three  stories  high,  all  built  of  stone  and  cov- 
ered with  slate  or  iron.  Other  valuable  improvements 
are  also  here. 

Mr.  Flickinger  returned  to  the  United  States  soon  after 
securing  this  site,  it  being  understood  that  he  should  do 
so  as  soon  as  this  object  was  accomplished,  and  Messrs. 
Witt  and  Billheimer  had  a  settled  place  in  which  to 
Avork.  He  reached  the  place  of  the  annual  meeting  the 
clay  after  it  commenced  work,  and  also  attended  the 
General  Conference. 

The  report  of  the  secretary,  at  this  meeting  of  the 
board,  showed  that  the  mission  conferences  in  Oregon 
and  Michigan  were  flourishing,  and  that  substantial 
work  was  done  in  Canada,  Missouri,  Minnesota,  Kansas, 
Nebraska,  and  Tennessee.  There  were  serious  obstacles 
in  the  way  of  the  work  of  Missouri  and  Kansas,  growing 
out  of  the  agitation  of  political  questions,  the  extension 
of  slavery  into  Kansas  being  the  source  of  bitter  oppo- 
sition between  pro-slavery  and  anti-slavery  people.  Yet, 
notwithstanding  all  this,  God  blessed  faithful  missionary 
work  to  the  salvation  of  precious  souls. 

During  the  year,  home  missions  had  been  prosperous. 
Quite  a  number  had  been   commenced  by  the  annual 


UNITED    BRETIIUKX    MISSIONS.  51 

•conferences  during  the  quadrennial  term,  and  they  had 
mostly  been  successful,  thus  increasing  the  membership 
of  the  Chureli  to  a  great  extent.  The  outlook  was  very 
encouraging,  both  in  the  home  and  frontier  departments. 
The  following  financial  exhibit,  for  the  quadrennial 
term  ending  May,  1857,  Avith  those  that  will  hereafter 
be  given  at  the  end  of  every  four  years,  will  indicate  the 
comparative  growth  of  missionary  zeal  in  the  Church, 
and  show  where  the  mone}'  given  the  board  has  been  ex- 
j)ended.  These  figures  are  taken  from  the  statement  of 
the  treasurer  of  the  missionary  society,  as  published  in 
his  report  of  1888,  and  are  sufficiently  full  and  reliable 
for  all  practical  purposes. 

Africa $5,814  69 

Oregon 3,892  00 

Kansas 2,450  00 

Missouri 1,750  00 

Michigan 1,000  00 

Ohio  German  Conference 1,350  00 

Minnesota 300  00 

Canada *.. 2,379  18 

Nebraska.. 1,500  00 

Tennessee 460  00 

Total $20,895  87 

To  this  there  must  be  added  at  least  twelve  hundred 
dollars  for  contingent  expenses  of  the  board.  Then  the 
annual  conferences  expended  upon  the  houic  missions 
of  the  Church  during  the  four  years,  including  what  was 
paid  by  these  missions  toward  the  support  of  those  who 
served  them,  $60,101.21.  This  makes  for  lionu".  frontier, 
and  foreign  missions,  during  the  first  four  years,  not 
including  the  contingent  expenses  of  the  board,  a  grand 
total  of  S80,998.08.  The  blessing  of  God  was  upon  the 
work  undertaken  l)y  the  society  from  the  beginning, 
vmder  the  efficient  Icadersliip  of  its  secretary,  Rev.  J.  C. 
Bright. 


52  HISTOIIY    Ol''    THE 


CHAPTEll    IX. 

From  1857  to  1S61. 

General  Conference  of  1857  —  Illness  of  secretaries  —  Publication  of 
Missionary  Telescope — Financial  crisis  — Many  conversions— House 
sent  to  Africa  —  Missionaries  shipwrecked  —  The  work  successful. 

Tlte  fifth  annual  vieetlng  of  the  hoard  was  held  in 
Lebanon,  Pennsylvania,  May  20,  1858,  The  General 
Conference  of  1857  re-elected  Bishop  Glossbrenner  presi- 
dent; Rev.  J.  Kemp,  treasurer,  and  Rev.  D.  K.  Flickin- 
ger,  corresponding  secretary,  with  the  usual  number  of 
members  necessary  to  constitute  the  Board  of  Missions. 
A  financial  crisis  swept  over  the  country  in  the  summer 
of  1857,  which  greatly  paralyzed  business.  As  the  mis- 
sionary society  commenced  the  term  with  a  debt  of 
several  thousand  dollars,  and  Avith  ])lans  formed  to  Avork 
upon  a  larger  scale  than  formerly,  this  sudden  and  seri- 
ous turn  in  the  finances  made  it  difiicult  for  the  ofiicers 
of  the  society  to  pay  bills  as  they  became  due.  At  one 
time  one  of  them  gave  a  mortgage  on  his  home  in  order 
to  raise  one  thousand  dollars  then  due.  Money  was  not 
as  plenty  at  that  time  as  it  has  been  since  the  war  of 
1861,  and  the  society  had  no  permanent  fund  as  at  pres- 
ent to  give  it  credit,  so  that  its  work  Avas  much  hindered 
for  lack  of  means  to  carry  it  on.  The  secretary  became 
seriously  ill  in  September,  and  consequently  Avas  utterly 
disabled  for  AVork  during  the  remainder  of  the  year  1857. 
He  resigned  his  office  in  Octol^er,  and  Rev.  J.  C.  Bright, 
his  jDredecessor,  became  his  successor  until  the  annual 
meeting,  but  his  health  also  failing  in  the  meantime,  he 
was  unable  to  attend  this  meeting.     At  that  time  money 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  53 

was  largely  raised  by  efforts  made  by  the  secretaries,  and 
as  they  were  disabled  much  of  the  year,  and  the  financial 
pressure  was  so  disastrous  to  business  in  general,  the 
outlook  I'or  raising  money,  especially  for  missions,  was 
very  dark  when  the  board  met  in  ISoS. 

The  (Jeneral  Conference  had  ordered  the  publication 
of  a  paper  to  be  called  the  Missionary  Telescope,  to  com- 
mence with  the  year  1858,  five  numbers  of  which  were 
alread}'  issued,  and  had  helped  to  get  the  claims  of  the 
society  before  the  Church ;  but  the  cost  of  publication 
exceeded  the  receipts  from  subscription,  owing  some- 
Avhat  to  the  fact  that  all  life  directors  and  life  members 
of  the  society  received  it  gratis.  The  year,  however,  was 
an  unusually  prosperous  one  in  securing  conversions 
and  accessions  to  the  Church  through  the  labors  of  the 
missionaries.  Michigan  Conference  had  become  self-sup- 
porting, and  all  the  mission  conferences  were  reported 
prosperous  except  Missouri,  for  which  laborers  could  not 
be  secured.  In  the  month  of  March,  the  Parkersburg 
Mission  Conference,  in  West  Virginia,  was  organized.  A 
mission  had  been  commenced  in  Kentucky,  and  another 
projected  in  Massachusetts.  A  wooden  house,  twent}'- 
four  by  thirty  feet,  prepared  in  New  York,  all  ready  to 
be  set  up,  had  been  sent  to  Africa,  and  was  erected  near 
Shaingay.  This  was  used  as  a  school-room,  chapel,  and 
missionary  residence  for  several  years.  Rev.  J.  K.  IMll- 
heimer  had  the  main  charge  of  the  work  there.  Dr.  Witt 
was  elsewhere  most  of  the  time,  and  itinerated  exten- 
sively in  preaching  the  gospel.  Everything  was  going 
forward  as  well  as  could  be  desired,  as  the  following 
message  received  from  them  by  the  board  just  before  it 
met,  shows 

"We  are  making  a  desperate  effort  to  get  the  house  up 
this  season,  now  that  we  have  received  the  deed  for  the 


54  HISTORY    OF    TllK 

beautiful  location  selected.  The  work  is  going  on  as 
well  as  could  be  expected  under  the  circumstances.  AVe 
have  c()nsideral)le  ground  cleared.  As  we  Avere  coming 
from  tShaingay  to  Freetown  a  few  days  ago,  we  were 
wrecked  upon  the  Banana  Islands,  and  l)arely  escaped 
drowning.  Indeed,  Ave  are  not  yet  out  of  danger,  having 
had  to  exert  ourselves  violently.  We  lost  from  thirty  to 
forty  dollars'  Avorth  of  goods,  but  Avere  thankful  to  get 
aAvay  Avith  our  lives.  We  are  Avilling  to  live  on  rice  and 
fish,  Avhile  our  brethren  live  in  luxury  in  America,  if 
they  will  support  this  mission." 

Strange  Avords  to  come  from  tAVO  men,  Avho  Avere  in  a 
far-off  land,  aAvay  from  friends  and  the  endearments  of 
Christian  society.  Did  they  mean  Avhat  they  Avrote,  just 
after  being  shipAvrecked,  and  narroAvly  escaping  Avith 
their  lives?  "ire  are  trilliii;/  to  live  on  rice  and  fish,  while 
our  brethren  live  in  luxury  in  America,  if  they  will  support 
this  mission.'''  Yes,  they  meant  it  all,  and  in  their  lal)ors 
and  sufferings  in  Africa  and  elsewhere,  shoAved  that  they 
did.  Alas!  the  Church  here  at  home  did  not  render 
sufficient  aid  to  enable  them  to  carry  forAvard  the  Avork 
of  the  mission  advantageously.  They  labored  under 
many  discouragements  for  a  time,  Avhen  Dr.  Witt  came 
home,  because  the  meagre  support  given  the  mission 
in  Africa  precluded  the  possibility  of  his  laboring  there 
longer  to  advantage. 

Home  missions  had  enjoyed  a  successful  year,  and 
all  was  going  forAvard  satisfactorily  in  every  department 
of  our  Avork  Avhere  the  effort  Avas  made.  The  lack  of 
money  and  the  ill-health  of  the  secretaries  Avas  a  serious 
draAvback,  Mr.  Bright  was  chosen  secretary  at  this  meet- 
ing for  the  ])alance  of  the  quadrennial  term,  but  his 
continued  ill-health  prevented  liini  from  doing  any- 
thing.    Mr.  Flickinger  had  aeeepte(l  labor  elseAvhere,  and 


UNiTKD  bketjiuj:n  missions.  55 

on  that  account,  as  well  as  the  fear  that  ill-health  would 
not  permit  him  to  j^eri'orm  the  duties  of  secretary,  de- 
clined the  position  permanently,  but  did  the  office  work 
pending  a  choice  to  be  made,  and  after  a  few  months 
accepted  it  for  the  balance  of  the  quadrennial  term. 

The  sixth  annual  session  of  the  board  was  held  in  Milfora, 
Indiana,  May  11,  1859.  Dr.  Witt  had  returned  from 
Africa,  leaving  Rev.  J.  K.  Billheimer  the  only  laborer 
the  society  had  there.  He  wrote  in  January  that  though 
the  house  sent  was  accommodating  him  fairly  well  for 
school-room,  chapel,  and  residence,  there  was  a  necessity 
for  the  place  of  residence  to  be  separate,  and  he  had 
commenced  such  a  building,  which  was  to  be  of  stonej 
thirty  by  forty-five  feet.  It  was  well  planned,  but  owing 
to  a  lack  of  money,  it  was  not  finished  until  the  year 
1864.  Mr.  Billheimer  was  encouraged  with  the  work,  for, 
notwithstanding  the  number  of  scholars  was  few  and  the 
congregations  for  divine  worship  small,  he  saw  that  good 
impressions  were  made  among  the  children  and  adults 
who  attended. 

Early  in  the  year,  Rev.  1).  8huck  was  sent  to  open  a 
mission  in  Central  Missouri,  Init  owing  to  the  slavery 
agitation  there,  very  little  was  done.  This  also  seriously 
hindered  our  work  in  Kansas,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee. 
Pro-slavery  people  not  only  did  all  they  could  to  make 
the  work  of  the  missionaries  a  failure,  but  threatened 
them  with  violence  also.  The  following,  taken  from  tlie 
Knoxville  Whig,  and  which  Avas  copied  very  extensively 
throughout  the  South,  shows  the  attitude  of  pro-slavery 
people  to  an  anti-slavery  church  sending  missionaries 
into  their  midst.  The  beginning  of  the  article  reads: 
''look  oft  for  an  abolitionist. 

"Rev.  John  Ruebush,  a  missionary  of  the  United 
Brethren,  is  laboring  in  tlie  vineyard  of  I'pper  Tennes- 


56  HISTORY   OF    TIIK 

see,  and  is  a  very  popular  man  among  the  negroes.  He 
is  agent  for  the  sale  of  divers  books  and  ])ul)lications, 
hailing  from  Dayton,  Ohio.  Among  the  books  are, 
'Lawrence  on  Slavery,'  'Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,'  and  such 
infamous  publications.  It  is  astonishing  that  a  mission- 
ary should  be  tolerated  in  East  Tennessee.  We  hope 
this  man  and  his  associates  will  run  off  half  of  the 
negroes  where  they  labor.  This  would  bring  the  citi- 
zens to  their  senses." 

During  the  year,  Nebraska  and  Wisconsin  mission 
conferences  were  organized.  Ministers  had  gone  to  Wis- 
consin from  Northern  Illinois,  and  having  made  a  good 
beginning,  the  General  Conference  of  1857  ordered  the 
formation  of  a  mission  conference,  which  was  not  accom- 
plished until  the  year  following.  Revivals  of  great  power 
had  taken  place  in  Minnesota,  Oregon,  and  Parkersburg. 
A  lack  of  laborers  kept  a  number  of  other  missions  weak, 
as  in  Massachusetts,  which  was  at  this  meeting  trans- 
ferred by  the  board  to  the  Sandusky  Annual  Conference. 
In  Nebraska  very  little  was  done.  During  the  year, 
Rev.  I.  Sloane  and  family  moved  to  California.  Mr. 
Sloane  was  our  first  missionary  to  that  State.  But  a 
few  months  after  they  reached  Sacramento  Cit}',  Mrs. 
Sloane  died,  leaving  her  husband  alone  to  care  for  sev- 
eral children,  besides  the  large  and  important  mission 
field  of  which  he  was  in  charge.  He  himself  was  per- 
mitted to  lal)or  l;)ut  a  few  years  in  that  country  when,  l)y 
a  sad  accident,  while  he  was  crossing  the  mountains,  far 
from  his  family  and  friends,  he  Avas  called  from  labor  to 
veAvard.  Of  this  heroic,  faithful  servant  of  the  Lord, 
and  of  his  death,  more  will  be  said  in  due  time. 

In  the  home-mission  department  of  the  work,  the  pro- 
gress made  was  very  good,  with  a  few  exceptions.  Both 
in  this,  and  in  the  frontier  field,  there  were  favorable 


UNITED    BllKTIIKEN    MIrioIOXS.  57 

opportunities  for  greatly  increasing  the  force  of  mission- 
aries, which  could  not  be  done,  however,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  the  money  was  not  at  hand  to  support  them. 
Except  in  the  slave  States,  wlicvo  the  opposition  to  our 
missionaries  was  very  bitter,  the  year's  Avork  was  quite 
encouraging.  The  folknving  resolution,  adopted  at  this 
meeting,  shows  the  board  meant  that  its  missionaries 
should  Avork  : 

"  We  require  the  missionaries  under  our  control  to 
devote  tAvo  hundred  and  forty  days  per  annum  to  actiA^e 
labor  on  their  respectiA^e  fields,  as  nothing  short  of  this 
Avill  be  regarded  as  full  time." 

One  of  the  missionaries  of  ]\Iendi  mission,  Avho  had 
spent  much  time  in  Africa,  and  kncAv  our  Avork  Avell, 
Avrote  to  the  executiA^e  committee,  in  January,  1859,  as 
folloAvs :  "  (1.)  You  haA'e  at  Shaingay  a  very  desirable 
field.  (2.)  Mr.  Billheimer  is  a  man  Avell  calculated  to 
begin  a  ucav  field  of  labor.  (3.)  The  buildings  are  com- 
menced Avell,  the  plans  are  Avisely  laid,  and  they  ought 
to  be  completed,  even  if  you  haA'e  to  l)orrow  money  to 
do  it,  as  the3Mvill  be  of  great  benefit  before  ncAv  mission- 
aries are  sent  to  join  Mr.  Billheimer.  (4.)  You  may  feel 
certain  that  every  farthing  of  your  money  is  religiously 
employed  according  to  INIr.  Billheimer's  judgment." 

The  seventh  anmial  session  of  the  board  met  April  28, 
1860,  in  Dresback  meeting-house,  near  CircleAalle,  Ohio. 
The  i)ast  year  had  been  an  exceedingly  trj'ing  one  to  the 
missionaries,  OAving  to  the  meagre  support  they  received, 
and  to  the  ofiicers  of  the  society,  ])ecause  of  their  ina- 
bility to  for\v;n'(l  proiiqitly  the  installments  due  them. 
As  it  AA'as,  the  del)t  of  the  society  Avas  increased,  cA-en  by 
the  pittance  given  the  missionaries.  To  saA'e  expenses, 
the  corresponding  secretary  accepted  a  field  of  lal)or  in 
Miami    Conference,  and,  Avith    the    help   of    two    other 


.■><S  msTOKY    (JF    TIIK 

inini.stev;<,  the  M'ork  of  the  st)cic'ty  was  done  gratis.  The 
Missionary  Telescope,  the  organ  of  the  society,  cost  five 
hun(h'ed  dollars  more  than  was  received  on  subscription 
to  jmhlish  it  during  the  year,  for  the  reason,  as  already 
stated,  that  all  life  members  and  life  directors  received 
it  free. 

Tlie  slave  power  continued  to  oppose  the  cause  of  mis- 
sions in  the  slave  States,  and  in  Kentucky,  Tennessee, 
and  West  Virginia  hindered  it  a  good  deal.  The  first 
Tnited  Brethren  church  in  Tennessee  was  dedicated 
during  the  year.  The  John  Brown  invasion  into  Vir- 
ginia made  the  opposition  still  more  violent.  Some 
success  was  achieved,  nevertheless,  in  slave  States,  esi)e- 
cially  in  Missouri,  and  also  in  Kansas,  which,  though 
not  a  slave  State,  was  much  affected  by  the  slavery  agita- 
tion. The  success  in  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  and  Oregon 
Avas  in  every  way  encouraging.  In  Canada  there  was 
but  little  growth  in  membership,  but  church  building 
was  going  forward  energetically,  and  the  prospects  were 
good  for  the  future.  In  California  the  work  was  carried 
forward  by  a  single  missionary,  and  mostly  at  his  own 
expense.  He  reported  that  fifty  members  were  received. 
In  Nebraska  three  missionaries  were  at  work,  but  with- 
out success.  The  Ohio  German  Mission  Conference  had 
a  prosperous  year.  The  mission  in  Massachusetts,  under 
the  sujM'rvision  of  Sandusky  Conference,  had  l)een  re- 
enforced,  and  seemed  promising. 

All  home  missions  upon  which  clHcient  Avork  was 
done  succeeded  well;  but  for  various  reasons  much  less 
Avas  attcmjjted  in  this  department  than  should  have 
been,  and  the  results  Avere  far  less  satisfactory  than  in 
some  other  years. 

In  Africa  Imt  little  Avas  attempted.  Rev.  J.  K.  Bill- 
heimer,  tlie  only  laborer  there,  Avas  compelled  to  leave 


UNITED    liKKTlIHKN    MISSIONS.  59 

early  in  the  year  on  account  of  failing  health.  He  came 
to  America  to  recruit  his  health,  leaving  the  mission 
May  18,  1859,  and  returning  to  it  February  19,  1860. 
During  his  absence  of  nine  months,  Rev.  J.  A.  Williams, 
a  native  minister  of  Freetown,  whom  Mr.  Billheimer  had 
employed  as  his  assistant,  was  in  charge.  He  continued 
to  teach  a  small  school,  preached  some,  and  kept  the 
mission  house  and  its  contents  from  being  destroyed.  A 
special  providence  seemed  to  watch  over  that  work,  and 
to  forward  the  cause  of  missions  both  at  home  and 
abroad. 

Action  was  taken  by  the  board  to  obtain  full  reports 
of  all  that  was  done  on  its  missions,  and  resolutions 
were  passed  urging  that  the  claims  of  missions  be 
brought  before  all  the  churches  and  Sunday-schools,  by 
sermons  and  addresses. 

The  eighth  annual  session  of  the  board  met  in  Johns- 
ville,  Ohio,  May  9,  1861.  During  the  year  the  debt  had 
been  somewhat  reduced,  and  the  society  had  received 
from  Revs.  W.  H.  Brown  and  J.  C.  Bright  one  thousand 
and  fourteen  acres  of  land,  worth  about  ten  thousand 
dollars.  The  most  of  this  munificent  gift  came  from  :Mr. 
Brown.  These  donations,  with  other  hopeful  signs,  made 
the  financial  outlook  better  than  it  had  been  fur  some 
time,  but  still  the  embarrassment  of  debt  was  upon  it. 

Mr.  Billheimer,  as  yet  the  only  American  the  society 
had  in  Africa,  a  few  months  before  the  board  met  wrote 
that  he  had  a  class  of  ten  seekers,  two  of  whom  he  had 
reasons  to  believe  were  converted,  and  that  the  work  was 
progressing  well  at  Shaingay,  the  only  station  wc  had 
there.  He  urged  that  more  be  done  for  Africa,  saying 
that  if  he  should  live  to  be  an  old  man  he  \.  ould  be  will- 
ing to  spend  the  remainder  of  his  days  vrith  that  people. 
The    mission  conference,    in  Kansas,  Missouri,  Minn- 


00  HISTOIiY    OF    TlIK 

esota,  "Wisconsin,  "West  Virginia,  and  also  the  Ohio  Ger- 
man Conference  had  in  general  prosjtered  during  the 
year.  Oregon  and  Canada  had  suflfered  for  want  of  a 
supply  of  lahorers,  and  Kentucky  was  chiefly  abandoned 
by  missionaries  owing  to  the  opposition  and  threats  from 
pro-slavery  men.  All  our  missionaries  in  slave  States 
were  severely  denounced.  Slaveholders  could  not  unite 
with  the  Church  because  we  held  slaveholding  to  be  a 
sin;  and  hence  anti-slavery  men  and  institutions  were 
roughly  handled  just  i)ievious  to  our  civil  war,  which 
became  an  exceedingly  uncivil  affair  in  our  midst  for 
several  years.  The  liome  missions  of  the  Church  were 
moderately  prosperous  during  the  year,  though  less  so 
than  most  of  the  frontier  missions  had  been.  In  the 
aggregate,  the  work  done  during  the  term  was  truly 
gratifying.  There  had  l)een  a  net  gain  to  the  Chureh 
of  over  ten  thousand  members  on  mission  fields,  which, 
considering  the  small  amount  of  money  given  to  this 
cause,  i;)resents  a  very  good  showing. 

The  General  Conference  met  the  following  week,  Avhen 
the  bishoj^s  stated,  in  their  address  to  that  l:)ody,  that 
the  membership  of  the  Church  had  increased  in  the  })i'e- 
ceding  four  years  from  61,399  to  94,453,  which  was  a 
gain  of  33,054.  Nearly  one-third  of  this  gain  was  on 
mission  fields.  The  Church  had  shown  a  willingness  to 
give  the  gospel  to  the  destitute  and  degraded  heatlien, 
and  to  fully  obey  the  blaster's  command,  "Go  ye  into 
all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creatui'c,"' 
and  the  I)ivine  lilessing  was  richly  bestowed  uj)on  it. 
The  following  statement  for  the  term  ending  May,  18G1, 
taken  from  the  treasurer's  report,  as  given  at  the  close 
of  the  2)recediiig  chapter,  will  show  more  fully  that  this 
Avas  true  : 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  61 

Africa $7,349  67 

Oregon 1,700  00 

California 50  00 

Ohio  German 2,700  00 

Parkersburg 873  03 

Tennessee 731  25 

Missouri 1,350  00 

Kansas 2,750  00 

Nebraska 1,755  00 

Minnesota 2,000  00 

Wisconsin 900  00 

Michigan 500  00 

Canada 8,550  00 

Total $26,208  95 

There  was  collected  on  foreign  and  frontier  missions, 
for  the  support  of  missionaries  in  cliarge  of  them,  the 
sum  of  $16,416.40.  The  amount  paid  for  home  missions 
by  branch  treasurers,  and  by  the  missions  thus  served, 
in  the  four  years,  was  ?81, 824.91,  making  a  grand  total 
for  home,  frontier  and  foreign  missions,  of  $127,063.35. 


62  HISTORY    OF    THE 


CHAPTER   X. 

From  iS6i  to  1865. 

Serious  obstacles  to  overcome  on  account  of  debt  and  war — Monev 
came  from  unexpecfted  sources  in  answ  r  to  prayer  —  Fierce  opposition 
from  pro-slaverjr  men  —  Work  in  Africa  not  entirely  abandoned  — 
Real  progress  upon  many  fields  —  Losses  upon  a  few. 

Tlie  ninth  annual  session  of  (he  hoard  met-  in  Bourbon, 
Indiana,  May  S,  1862.  The  General  Conference  of  1861 
re-elected  the  same  men  for  ])re.sident,  secretary,  and 
treasurer  who  had  filled  these  offices  the  previous  four 
years,  and  also  the  usual  numl)er  of  other  members  of 
the  board.  In  addition  to  the  embarrassments  growing 
out  of  a  lack  of  money,  the  civil  war,  ■which  had  grown 
to  be  a  very  serious  matter,  was  hindering  the  work,  and 
putting  in  its  way  serious  obstacles.  West  Virginia, 
Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Missouri,  and  Kansas,  especially 
the  last  two,  were  full  of  anarchy  and  bloodshed,  though 
our  missionaries  were  prosperous  in  tlieir  work  in  these 
States  during  the  year.  Distress  had  fallen  upon  our 
people  living  inside  of  rebel  lines,  as  not  a  few  had  been 
conscripted,  and  others  were  stripped  of  all  their  earthly 
goods.  Tennessee  mission,  being  wholly  within  re])el 
lines,  no  word  from  it  had  reached  the  officers  during 
the  year.  Some  of  tlie  missions  were  abandoned  in 
Parkersburg  Conference,  West  Virginia.  Kentucky  was 
invaded  l^y  the  rebels,  and  all  mission  work  there  had 
been  stopped,  except  that  now  and  then  a  meeting  was 
held  by  Rev.  Wm.  Blair,  the  only  one  of  the  mission- 
aries who  had  not  left  the  State  for  the  free  Nortli. 

The  General  Conference  the  year  before  had  made  Ohio 


UMTED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  63 

German  Conference  self-supporting,  and  authorized  the 
folTowing  mission  conferences  to  be  organized,  viz. :  Indi- 
ana (lerman,  North  Michigan,  and  Fox  Ilivcr.  tlie  latter 
heing  in  the  State  of  Wisconsin  and  the  othei's  being  in 
the  States  whose  names  they  bear.  Xel)raska  (Conference 
was  disbanded,  and  its  territory  in  Iowa,  whicli  was  the 
most  prosperous  part  of  it,  given  to  West  Des  Moines 
Conference,  to  which  it  properly  belonged.  Rev.  D. 
Shuck  had  been  elected  bishop  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  but 
had  not  gone.  A  Rev.  Mr.  Dollarhide  had  gone  to  Cali- 
fornia, and  was  helping  Rev.  I.  Sloane.  They  had  some 
success,  but  most  of  their  converts  went  into  other 
churches,  on  account  of  our  anti-secrecy  and  anti-slavery 
Ijrinciples.  Rev.  C.  Briggs  had  gone  to  the  New  England 
mission,  for  Sandusky  Conference,  and  had  labored  very 
faithfully  there,  but  the  Avork  was  not  prospering.  In 
Canada  and  Oregon,  and  in  the  newly  organized  confer- 
ences, as  Avell  as  in  jNIinnesota,  there  was  Ijut  moderate 
success,  except  in  North  Michigan,  which  had  grown 
rapidly  during  the  year. 

Home  missions  had  considerable  prosperity,  and  were 
still  absorlnng  much  the  largest  part  of  all  missionary 
money  collected  in  the  Church.  The  board  had  fifty-five 
missionaries  in  the  frontier,  and  but  one  in  the  foreign 
field.  These  were  paid  on  an  average  about  one  hundred 
dollars  each  from  mission  funds,  and  received  the  rest 
of  their  support  from  their  mission  fields,  but  often  that 
was  not  much.  Considering  the  fierce  war  which  was 
raging  in  the  United  States,  the  Avork  here  was  gratify- 
ing. The  Missionary  Telescope^  owing  to  its  losing  money, 
was  discontinued  after  Novendjer,  1861. 

Mr.  Billheimer's  term  of  five  years  having  expired,  he 
left  Africa  in  September,  ISGl,  and  came  to  America, 
leaving  the  mission  a  second  time  in  charge  of  Mr.  .1.  A. 


(i  I;  IIISTOUV    OF    THE 

^\'illia]ns,  the  faithful  native  helper  the  society  had 
there.  Shaingay  heing  a  healthy  place,  making  it  more 
desirable  for  missionaries  to  acclimate  and  recruit  health, 
it  was  decided  to  sell  the  Freetown  pro2:)erty,  in  order  to 
procure  sufficient  funds  to  complete  the  missionary  resi- 
dence at  Shaingay,  which  was  partly  built.  Accord- 
ingly'", Mr.  Billheimer  was  instructed  to  dispose  of  it. 
Owing  to  a  defective  title,  he  could  not  find  a  purchaser 
before  leaving  Africa  for  America,  in  the  autumn  of 
1861.  With  the  hope  that  Mr.  Flickinger  might  sell  it, 
and  thereby  pay  some  debts  against  the  mission,  which 
were  demanded,  and  also  shape  things  so  that  the  native 
missionary,  Mr.  Williams,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  mis- 
sion, might  be  retained  to  keep  life  in  it,  the  executive 
committee  requested  him  to  go  to  Africa,  for  the  third 
time.  He  sailed  in  November,  1861,  and,  after  much 
trouble,  sold  the  property,  j^aying  all  debts  against  the 
mission  there,  and  supplying  Mr.  Williams  with  suffi- 
cient money  to  hold  the  fort  for  another  year  and  more. 
The  mission  debt  at  home,  despite  greatly  reduced  ap- 
proj)riations,  had  been  increased  two  thousand  dollars 
during  the  year,  and  now  stood  at  about  as  high  a  figure 
as  it  was  four  years  before.  It  was  fortunate  for  the 
society  that  the  Lord  put  it  into  the  heart  of  Mr.  W. 
Blancliard,  of  Carlisle,  Kentucky,  to  come  to  Dayton, 
Ohio,  to  seek  an  anti-slavery  church,  with  $4,210  for  the 
cause  of  missions,  which  amount  he  paid  in  cash.  Mr. 
I.  Lane,  of  Henderson,  Illinois,  also  generously  gave 
the  society  real  estate  and  notes  during  this  year,  which 
were  valued  at  fourteen  thousand  dollars,  most  of  which 
Avas  realized  in  money  some  years  later.  Truly,  man's 
extremity  is  God's  opportunity.  Mr.  Blanchard  knew 
nothing  about  such  a  people  as  the  ''United  Brethren  in 
Christ,"  as  he  himself  informed  the  writer,  but  was  im- 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  G5 

pressed  by  the  Holy  Spirit  that  he  ought  to  come  to 
Dayton,  Ohio. 

At  this  annual  meeting  the  executive  committee  was 
authorized  by  tlie  board  to  sell  the  real  estate  bequeathed 
to  the  society,  and  to  execute  deeds  and  all  legal  papers 
in  behalf  of  the  society,  under  the  direction  and  with 
the  sanction  of  the  board,  which  power  said  committee 
still  retains. 

Mr.  Flickinger  returned  from  Africa  barely  in  time  to 
attend  this  meeting.  As  he  had  borne  all  the  expense 
of  this  trip  to  Africa  himself,  he  received  the  hearty 
thanks  of  the  board.  Mr.  Billheimer  was  re-appointed 
to  be  superintendent  of  the  African  mission,  and  in- 
structed to  go  again  in  the  fall  of  1862.  Mr.  Williams 
was  also  continued  as  his  assistant.  The  year  Avas  an 
eventful  one,  with  much  to  encourage  the  friends  of 
missions  to  continue  their  symi^athy,  gifts,  and  prayers. 

The  tenth  annual  meeting  of  the  hoard  was  held  in 
Liberty,  Ohio,  May  21,  1863.  The  secretary's  report 
said:  "Meeting  at  a  time  when  a  most  wicked  rebellion 
is  exhausting  the  energies  of  this  country,  and  filling 
the  land  with  desolation  and  mourning,  it  is  fit  to  call 
to  remembrance  the  unfaltering  adherence  of  our  fathers 
to  the  principles  of  right,  especially  in  their  firm  oppo- 
sition to  that  sin  which  has  so  justly  brought  upon  our 
nation  the  judgment  of  Almighty  God.  For  more  than 
forty  years  we  have  refused  membership  to  slaveholders. 
Because  of  this,  many  have  turned  away  from  us,  and 
we  have  been  subjected  to  much  opposition  and  injus- 
tice, especially  in  slave  States.  The  progress  this  nation 
is  making  in  breaking  the  shackles  of  the  enslaved  is  a 
reward  for  all  that  has  been  suffered  and  the  sacrifices 
we  yet  have  to  make  before  this  terrible  struggle  ends. 
The  condition  of  our  political  affairs  has  compelled  us 


66  HISTORY   OF    THE 

to  suspend  labor  in  places,  but  Avherever  our  missiona- 
ries have  been  permitted  to  work  regularly,  they  have 
had  excellent  success,  with  one  or  two  exceptions." 

The  financial  condition  of  the  society  was  better,  as 
large  donations  were  being  received.  The  New  England 
mission  was  faithfully  served,  but  with  little  success. 
No  word  had  come  from  Tennessee,  the  missionary  there 
being  compelled  to  hide  in  the  mountains  to  evade  the 
rebels,  who  were  seeking  his  life.  In  Kentucky  our 
people  could  hold  no  meetings.  Nebraska  mission  had 
been  turned  over  to  West  Des  Moines  Conference,  which 
looked  after  one  or  two  points  near  it,  and  left  all  the 
rest  unsupplied  with  laborers ;  therefore,  very  little  was 
done  on  this  mission.  Oregon  Conference  was  strength- 
ened by  the  addition  of  several  ministers,  but  had  an 
unusual  leanness  in  its  finances  during  the  year.  For- 
merly it  had  money  but  no  laborers ;  now  it  had  laborers 
but  no  money.  It  made  some  progress,  notwithstanding. 
California  was  organized  into  a  mission  conference  in 
September,  1862,  with  six  missionaries  and  several  local 
preachers,  and  was  prosperous.  The  Indiana  German 
Conference  was  growing  as  rapidly  as  could  be  expected, 
it  being  exclusively  German.  In  Kansas  there  were 
serious  trials,  but  the  mission  fully  held  its  own.  Mis- 
souri Conference  had  bitter  opposition,  but  it  prospered 
somewhat.  The  Indian  raid,  with  scarcity  of  laborers, 
seriously  hindered  our  progress  in  Minnesota.  Fox 
River  Conference,  in  Wisconsin,  had  little  numerical 
strength  added,  but  built  several  houses  of  worship. 
Canada  was  doing  much  the  same  as  Fox  River,  West 
Virginia,  in  which  Parkersburg  Conference  is  situated, 
had  become  a  free  State,  and  this  gave  our  missionaries 
hope  that  the  five  hundred  members  lost  there  since  the 
war  began  would  soon  be  regained.     Home  missions  sue- 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS."  67 

ceeded  well  generally,  and  not  a  few  of  them  became 
self-supporting  from  year  to  year,  and  in  their  turn  con- 
tributed to  the  cause  of  missions  elsewhere. 

Rev.  J.  K.  Billheimer  spent  the  summer  of  1862  in 
America  recruiting  his  health.  In  the  meantime  he 
was  married  to  Miss  A.  Ilanby,  and  they  sailed  for 
Africa  early  in  October,  reaching  Shaingay  the  following 
month.  He  wrote  that  the  people  were  greatly  rejoiced 
at  his  return,  and  that  the  mission  was  in  better  con- 
dition than  he  expected  to  find  it.  In  February,  1863, 
he  wrote  that  the  Sabbaths  there  were  precious  days; 
the  meetings  were  well  attended ;  the  two  converts, 
Thomas  Tucker  and  Lucy  Caulker,  were  faithful,  and 
the  outlook  promising.  Owing  to  the  failure  of  the  man 
to  whom  the  Freetown  property  had  been  sold,  to  pay  as 
soon  as  was  expected,  Mr.  Billheimer  was  hindered  in 
his  work.  The  treasurer  had  sent  him  money  to  be  j)aid 
through  another  missionary  then  in  Africa,  Avho  for 
some  reason  did  not  forward  it  promptly  to  Mr.  Bill- 
heimer. These  vexatious  delays  caused  not  only  great 
inconvenience  and  suffering  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Billheimer, 
but  retarded  them  in  their  work,  and  perhaps  conduced 
to  their  early  return,  which  was  in  the  spring  of  1864. 
Mr.  Billheimer,  in  clearing  the  ground  and  opening 
Shaingay  station,  suffered  a  great  deal  in  various  ways. 
The  following  action  Avas  taken  at  this  meeting:  "(1.) 
That  we  commence  a  mission  among  the  freedmen. 
(2.)  That  in  connection  with  this  we  will  do  all  we  can 
the  destitute  whites  in  the  South."  There  were  at 
this  time  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  missionaries  in  the 
home,  fifty-two  in  the  frontier,  and  two  in  the  foreign 
fields,  a  total  of  two  hundred  and  twelve,  making  a  very 
large  force  of  laborers  for  the  small  amount  of  money 
collected  and  expended  by  the  Church  for  their  support. 


68  HISTOliY    OF    THE 

The  eleventh  annual  session  of  the  board  met  INIay  19, 
1864,  in  Dublin,  Indiana.  Its  action  one  year  previous 
looking  to  the  opening  of  a  mission  among  the  freed- 
men  of  the  South  met  with  favor.  Contributions  for 
this  had  been  asked  as  a  special  work,  and  they  came  in 
so  liberally  that  by  December,  1863,  the  society  had  two 
ministers  and  four  lady  teachers  at  work  in  Vicksburg, 
Mississippi.  They  taught  not  less  than  five  hundred, 
young  and  old,  in  the  schools  they  had  opened,  and  the 
ministers  preached  to  them  frequently.  They  had  also 
organized  a  church  in  that  city,  which  numbered  about 
four  hundred  and  fifty  members.  A  second  work  was 
commenced  at  Davis  Bend,  and  a  school  opened  early  in 
January,  1864,  which  was  continued  until  late  in  March, 
when  it  had  to  be  closed,  on  account  of  the  withdrawal 
of  the  Federal  trooj)S  from  that  place.  In  February, 
three  more  laborers  were  sent,  but  OAving  to  sickness,  two 
of  them  came  back  to  Ohio,  together  with  one  belonging 
to  the  first  company.  The  total  amount  contributed  to 
this  work,  in  clothing,  books,  and  cash,  mostly  the  lat- 
ter, was  about  seven  thousand  dollars. 

The  following  missionaries  were  employed  in  connec- 
tion with  this  work :  Rev.  B.  F.  Morgan  and  wife,  Rev. 
Wm.  McKee,  Miss  S.  Dickey,  Miss  E.  G.  Stubbs,  Miss  A. 
E.  Hanson,  Rev.  A.  Rose,  Miss  J.  Bigley,  Miss  Mary 
Steward,  Miss  H.  C.  Hunt,  Rev.  R.  West,  and  Rev.  W. 
0.  Grimm  and  wife. 

The  most  wonderful  tiling  in  connection  with  this 
Avork  was  the  progress  the  freedmen  made  in  their 
studies.  In  two  months  many  of  them  learned  to  read 
quite  well.  They  advanced  with  equal  rapidity  in  pen- 
manship, geography,  English  grammar,  and  arithmetic. 
Old  and  young,  both  in  day  and  Sunday-schools, 
eagerly  sought  and  readily  obtained  knowledge. 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSION  69 

Our  missionary  in  Tennessee,  Rev.  J.  Ruebush,  came 
north  in  November,  1863,  and  made  the  following  report : 
"The  first  year  of  the  war  I  was  not  interrupted  much; 
the  second  year,  I  had  to  abandon  some  of  my  appoint- 
ments ;  and  the  third,  I  liad  to  flee  for  my  life.  We  had 
three  Sunday-schools  and  about  one  hundred  members 
there  when  I  left."  He  returned  to  Tennessee  in  April, 
1864,  but  could  get  no  further  than  StraAvberry  Plains, 
from  which  place  he  wrote  that  he  had  heard  from  his 
wife,  and  that  the  rebels  had  broken  open  his  house  and 
carried  off  everthing  they  could.  He  soon  afterward 
succeeded  in  getting  home.  Our  missionary  in  Ken- 
tucky reported  that  many  of  our  members  had  been 
driven  away,  and  that  there  was  great  excitement  over 
the  negro  question ;  the  last  aAvful  struggle  was  at  hand, 
and  no  Northern  man  could  stay  there ;  he  was  doing  all 
he  could  to  keep  the  church  alive  and  together.  The 
Nebraska  and  New  England  missions  had  but  little  suc- 
cess during  the  year.  Owing  to  the  death  of  Rev.  I. 
Sloane  in  California,  early  in  the  year,  but  little  was 
done  there.  He  was  a  true  and  successful  missionary, 
who  met  death  far  from  home  and  friends,  and  under 
circumstances  painful  to  contemplate.  As  nearly  as  can 
be  given  here,  the  incidents  pertaining  to  his  death  Avere 
as  follows :'  While  on  one  of  his  missionary  tours,  his 
horse  gave  out,  and  a  brother,  with  the  best  intentions, 
insisted  on  his  taking  one  of  his.  As  it  was  a  Mex- 
ican pony,  and  given  to  bucking,  Mr.  Sloane  at  first 
hesitated,  but  the  brother  assuring  him  that  the  "horse 
was  well  trained  and  safe,  he  finally  accepted  with 
reluctance  the  proffered  loan.  He  started  on  his  jour- 
ney, and  all  went  well  until,  in  crossing  a  mountain, 
he  reached  a  long  decline,  close  to  the  sea-shore.  The 
horse  here  began  to  buck,  and  for  more  than  a  mile  con- 


70  HISTORY   OF   THE 

tinned  it  with  such  violence  that  Mr.  Sloane  was  unable 
to  check  him  suflEiciently  to  dismount.  On  reaching  the 
foot  of  the  mountain,  he  succeeded  in  getting  off  of 
this  furious  animal,  but  was  badly  injured  internally. 
By  the  assistance  of  others,  who  chanced  to  meet  him  in 
this  sad  plight,  he  was  conveyed  to  a  vessel,  which  was 
but  a  short  distance  from  the  shore.  Here  he  was  cared 
for  as  well  as  it  was  possible  under  the  circumstances, 
but  died  before  reaching  a  place  of  landing.  Death  found 
him  quite  ready  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ. 

In  the  month  of  February,  Bishop  Shuck  was  urged 
to  go  to  the  Pacific  coast,  and  did  so.  He  wrote,  in 
April,  that  a  number  had  united  with  the  Church ;  that 
the  outlook  was  hopeful,  both  in  California  and  Oregon, 
and  that  the  work  had  been  extended  from  the  latter 
into  Washington  Territory.  In  Kansas  there  was  but 
little  success,  while  in  Missouri  a  rapid  growth  was 
shown.  North  Michigan  and  Canada  had  a  good  year, 
and  Fox  River  and  Minnesota  were  increasing,  but  not 
rapidly.  Parkersburg  and  Indiana  German  conferences 
were  hindered  by  political  agitation  and  other  causes, 
yet  had  some  growth. 

The  home  missions  of  the  Church  had  been  the  means 
of  greatly  strengthening  the  self-supporting  conferences. 
When  the  field  is  wisely  chosen  and  properly  cultivated, 
success  is  almost  certain  in  this  department  of  work,  but 
the  year  just  closed  was  an  especially  successful  one. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Billheimer,  owing  to  sickness,  returned 
home  soon  after  the  board  met,  leaving  the  work  in 
Africa  again  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Williams.  Just  before 
his  departure  from  Africa,  he  Avrote  that  a  country-built 
chapel  in  Shaingay  had  been  completed  and  dedicated, 
and  every  seat  had  been  occupied ;  that  the  chief  of  the 
country  was  present,  and  that  God  had  greatly  blessed 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  71 

the  services;  the  Sabbath-school  was  larger  than  ever 
before,  and  much  more  interesting;  the  prayer-meetings 
were  well  attended;  God  Avas  moving  upon  the  hearts  of 
many,  and  ten  persons  were  then  inquiring  after  salva- 
tion. The  board  resolved  to  send  two  more  laborers 
there  as  soon  as  suitable  persons  could  be  found,  and 
unqualifiedly  pledged  itself  to  the  interests  of  Africa. 

The  last  annual  meeting  of  the  board  for  the  third  quad- 
rennial term  was  held  May  9,  1865,  in  Lisbon,  Iowa,  and 
the  General  Conference  met  two  days  later  near  the 
same  place.  The  debt  of  the  society  was  almost  wiped 
out,  and  it  had  built  a  good  house  in  Vicksburg  for  the 
freedmen's  mission.  About  fifteen  thousand  freedmen 
had  received  instruction  in  the  southwest,  and  seven 
hundred  of  them  from  our  teachers.  Human  slavery 
was  doomed,  and  henceforth  these 'freed  people  were  to 
have  the  privilege  of  receiving  instruction  in  public 
schools,  and  a  pure  gospel,  and  thousands  were  eagerly 
laying  hold  of  this  hope  to  secure  their  full  rights  as 
American  citizens.  Freeing  our  treasury  largely  from 
financial  embarrassment,  and  the  good  work  done  among 
the  freedmen  of  the  South,  were  the  gratifying  results  of 
.the  year's  record.  The  war  had  written  a  terrible  com- 
mentary upon  our  national  wickedness.  The  cost  of  life 
and  treasure  for  the  expurgation  of  American  slavery 
would  have  planted  the  gospel  in  every  part  of  the 
habitable  world.  The  money  expended  Avould  have 
more  than  paid  full  value  for  every  slave;  but  this  Avas 
the  least  of  the  sacrifices  made  to  save  the  life  of  the 
United  States  Government.  Many  who  had  not  per- 
ceived it  before,  now  saw  that  slavery  was  a  great 
political  as  Avell  as  moral  evil,  and  that  God  will  vin- 
dicate the  right,  though  he  resort  to  fearful  measures  to 
accomplish  his  purposes.     The  prescriptive  spirit  mani- 


72  HISTORY   OF    THE 

fested  against  us  in  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  elsewhere, 
because  of  our  anti-slavery  principles,  showed  the  hein- 
ousness  of  the  institution,  and  caused  us  great  joy  to  see 
its  power  for  evil  exterminated.  The  following  is  to  the 
point  in  this  connection. 

Rev.  J.  Ruebush,  our  pioneer,  but  now  refugee  mis- 
sionary in  Tennessee,  who  started  from  the  North  to  his 
home  near  Greenville,  had  failed  to  reach  there  for  more 
than  a  year  previous  to  this  annual  meeting.  He  wrote 
in  March  that  he  had  reached  Knoxville,  and  was  then 
preaching  there  with  some  success.  A  local  preacher, 
Rev.  E.  Keezle,  had  moved  from  Virginia  to  the  neighbor- 
hood in  which  Mr.  Ruebush  lived,  and  he  had  ventured 
to  preach  at  some  of  the  places  formerly  occupied  by  the 
board's  missionary.  In  Kentucky  nothing  could  be 
done.  Mr.  Blair,  th^  only  man  we  had  there,  attempted 
to  hold  a  few  meetings.  On  one  occasion  a  band  of  out- 
laws made  a  dash  into  a  meeting  he  was  holding,  but  he 
managed  to  get  away  before  they  arrived,  thus  narrowly 
escaping  with  his  life.  As  a  matter  of  course,  under 
these  circumstances,  both  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee, 
we  lost  rather  than  gained  members. 

Bishop  Shuck's  labors  on  the  Pacific  coast  were  blessed, 
for  he  not  only  presided  at  the  Oregon  and  California 
conferences,  but  preached  a  great  deal  besides,  especially 
in  Northern  California.  One  of  the  successful  laborers 
in  Oregon  had  died,  and  the  advanced  age  and  infirmi- 
ties of  others  prevented  them  from  working  as  they  had 
in  former  years ;  yet  the  work  there,  and  in  Washington 
Territory,  which  was  a  part  of  the  Oregon  Conference, 
had  gone  forward  reasonably  well.  There  had  been 
more  pros])erity  in  Kansas  than  for  several  years  before, 
and  continued  success  crowned  our  efforts  in  Missouri. 
In  Minnesota  old  difficulties  were  removed,  and  some 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  73 

progress  was  made.  A  fair  share  of  success  had  attended 
all  the  other  frontier  missions,  except  Fox  River  and 
Indiana  German  conferences,  and  the  Nebraska  mission, 
which  had  little  work  done  upon  it  during  the  year. 
Some  home  missions  had  abundant  success  during  the 
year,  but  upon  the  whole  the  work  was  less  prosperous  in 
this  department  than  formerly.  A  more  vigilant  super- 
vision was  needed  in  some  conferences,  as  well  as  more 
efficient  laborers,  iit  connection  with  home  missions. 

The  African  mission  was  left  in  the  care  of  Rev.  J. 
A.  Williams,  the  native  helper  we  had  in  Africa,  during 
the  year.  The  war  and  the  changes  wrought  by  it,  made 
such  demands  upon  Christian  effort  at  home  that  there 
was  little  inclination  to  attempt  much  abroad.  It  Avas 
well  that  the  society  had  a  trustworthy  man,  though  a 
native,  to  hold  the  ground  and  nof  let  the  property  it 
owned  there  be  destroyed.  The  executive  committee  did 
seek  to  get  laborers  for  Africa,  but  failed.  It  sent  to  Mr. 
"Williams  five  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  goods,  but  the 
vessel  upon  which  they  were  shijDped  was  lost  at  sea. 
There  was  also  an  order  sent  him  for  money,  but  this, 
too,  failed  to  reach  its  destination ;  probably  lost  with 
the  same  ill-fated  vessel.  Mr.  Williams  wrote  in  March 
that  he  was  greatly  straitened  for  means,  but  was  keeping 
up  the  day  and  Sunday-schools,  and  preaching  at  Shain- 
gay  regularly.  Under  these  circumstances,  but  little 
could  be  done  to  build  lip  the  cause  there.  We  had  at 
this  time  one  hundred  and  eighty-seven  missions,  with 
a  membership  of  twelve  thousand,  seven  hundred  and 
fifty-two.  There  were  one  hundred  and  seventy-two 
Sunday-schools,  with  nine  thousand,  three  hundred  and 
forty  pupils  in  them  upon  these  missions.  The  society 
was  rapidly  enlarging  its  sphere  of  labor  in  the  United 
States,  and  doing  a  little  in  Africa.     The  cause  of  honifc 


74  HISTORY    OF    THE 

missions,  though  not  under  the  immediate  supervision 
of  the  board,  was  greatly  helped  by  the  officers  of  the 
society  constantly  keeping  the  subject  of  missions  before 
the  people.  At  this  time  there  Avas  no  rule  b}^  which 
money  collected  for  missions  Avas  di\'ided  betAveen  the 
board  for  frontier  and  foreign  missions,  and  the  confer- 
ences for  home  missions.  The  result  Avas,  the  conferences 
retained  the  larger  part  of  it,  as  they,  by  vote,  deter- 
mined what  portion  the  board  should  receive  at  each 
annual  conference  session.  The  following  is  the  financial 
summary,  embracing  the  four  years  ending  May,  1865  : 

Africa $    5,530  29 

California 1,351  00 

Freedmen's  Mission ,. 10,170  81 

Fox  River  Conference 1,150  00 

Indiana  German  Conference 1,5G6  66 

Kansas  Conference 1,415  83 

Kentucky  Mission 100  25 

Massachusetts  Mission 793  68 

Minnesota  Mission 1,180  42 

Missouri  Mission 1,408  80 

Nebraska  Mission 50  00 

Ontario  Mission 1,185  28 

Oregon  Mission 700  00 

North  Michigan  Mission 831  66 

Parkersburg  Mission 700  15 

Tennessee  Mission 206  00 

Total $28,340  S3 

There  Avas  collected  for  the  support  of  missionaries 
on  the  above-named  missions  the  additional  sum  of 
$22,364.68,  and  there  Avas  paid  to  home  missionaries,  by 
branch  treasurers  and  the  fields  they  served,  $102,631.55, 
making  a  grand  cash  total  for  home,  frontier,  and  foreign 
missions  of  $153,237.06.  In  addition,  books  and  cloth- 
ing to  the  value  of  several  thousand  ^dollars  were  given, 
principally  to  the  freedmen  of  the  South. 


UNITED   BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  75 


CHAPTER  XI. 

From  1865  to  1869. 

Missionary  Fz«7or  commenced  —  Freedmen's  mission  discontinued — 
Work  resumed  in  places  from  which  war  had  driven  us  —  Oregon 
made  self-supporting — Rev.  O.  Hadley  and  wife  sent  to  Africa,  and 
what  they  said  —  Union  sought  with  the  Evangelical  Association  — 
Great  prosperity  on  frontier  and  home  missions. 

The  thirteenth  annual  session  of  the  board  met  in  Lewis- 
burg,  Ohio,  May  24,  1866,  The  General  Conference  of 
the  year  previous  had  continued  J.  J.  Glossbrenner  as 
president,  and  D.  K.  Flickinger  as  secretary,  but  elected 
Rev.  Wm.  McKee  as  treasurer,  instead  of  Rev.  J.  Kemp. 
A  few  changes  were  also  made  in  the  other  members 
constituting  the  new  board.  It  had  ordered  the  pub- 
lication of  the  Missionary  Visitor,  provided  it  could  be 
accomplished  by  the  officers  of  the  society  without  loss 
to  the  missionary  treasury.  The  paj)er  was  commenced 
July  1,  1865,  Avith  a  few  hundred  subscribers,  Avhich 
number  increased  to  thirty-five  hundred  by  the  time 
this  meeting  occurred,  the  receipts  paying  the  cost  of 
publication.  The  large  circulation  it  had  attained,  the 
missionary  intelligence  it  communicated  to  young  and 
old  in  the  Church,  and  the  money  derived  therefrom, 
showed  conclusively  that  this  paper  was  meeting  a  real 
want  in  the  Church. 

The  board,  as  well  as  the  General  Conference  of  1865, 
had  approved  the  following :  "  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
Christian  church  to  put  forth  extraordinary  efforts  for 
the  spiritual,  moral,  and  political  regeneration  of  the  peo- 
ple of  the  South,  without  distinction  of  color."     Shortly 


76  HISTORY   OF   THE 

after  the  war  closed,  the  military  authorities  of  Vicksburg 
remanded  the  lot  upon  which  our  mission  chapel  and 
school-room  were  situated,  to  its  original  owner,  who 
demanded  the  removal  of  the  building  at  once.  As  the 
people  who  had  united  with  us  were  mostly  gone,  and 
that  city  was  fully  occujjied  by  other  churches,  both 
from  the  North  and  South,  it  was  thought  best  to  aban- 
don the  freedmen's  mission  as  a  separate  work,  but  to 
occupy  the  Southern  field  irrespective  oi  color.  \Ye 
therefore  sold  the  house  in  Vicksburg  for  the  nominal 
sum  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  after  it  was  torn 
down,  and  three  hundred  and  nineteen  dollars  was  also 
received  for  goods  and  other  things  we  possessed  there. 
Alas !  but  little  has  been  accomiDlished  in  the  South  by 
our  society,  for  either  whites  or  blacks,  since  that  time. 

The  missions  in  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  and  Southern 
Illinois,  which  had  been  left  without  laborers  because  of 
the  war,  were  reinforced.  Rev.  J.  Ruebush  had  reached 
his  home  in  Tennessee,  and  Rev.  A.  E.  Evans  was  sent 
to  his  assistance.  Revs.  Bay  and  Bender  had  been  sent 
to  Kentucky,  and  with  Mr.  Blair,  who  was  already  on 
the  field,  manned  that  mission  admirably  well.  Several 
men  were  also  employed  in  Soutlwrn  Illinois,  and  on 
all  these  missions  there  was  success,  with  a  prospect  of 
flattering  results.  The  Indiana  Mission  Conference  was 
discontinued  as  a  separate  work,  and  made  a  j)art  of 
Ohio  German  Conference,  which  was  again  made  a  mis- 
sion conference.  The  General  Conference  had  also  made 
Oregon  Conference  self-sui)porting,  and  authorized  the 
organization  of  a  mission  conference  in  Washington  Ter- 
ritory, which  had  been  accomj)lished.  California  grew 
rapidly,  and  the  outlook  was  good  on  the  Pacific  district. 
In  Kansas  Conference,  Lane  Seminary  was  located  at 
Lecompton,  and   in    other   respects    progress   was  made 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  77 

during  the  year.  In  Missouri  there  were  revivals  and 
growth  in  membership.  Many  who  had  opposed  us  on 
account  of  our  anti-shxvery  sentiments,  were  now  our 
friends,  and  were  glad  that  slavery  was  abolished.  Min- 
nesota and  Fox  River  grew  slowly,  especially  the  latter. 
Wisconsin  was  made  a  mission  conference  again,  and 
did  reasonably  well  during  the  year.  North  Michigan 
did  very  well,  and  Canada  had  some  success,'^while  Par- 
kersburg  made  remarkable  progress. 

As  home  missions  received  more  financial  aid  than 
had  been  given  to  both  other  departments,  there  were 
correspondingly  greater  results  during  the  year.  This 
department  of  work,  as  well  as  the  division  of  mission- 
ary money  being  under  the  control  of  the  annual  con- 
ferences exclusively,  they  very  naturally  took  the  lion's 
share,  often  leaving  the  Board  of  Missions  with  quite  a 
small  amount  in  comparison  to  what  they  retained  for 
themselves.  They  never  had  more  money  than  the 
home  missions  of  the  Church  needed;  but  the  board 
never  had  enough  to  work  properly  the  frontier  and 
foreign  missions  of  the  Church  committed  especially  to 
its  care.  The  board  resolved  at  this  meeting  to  put  forth 
increased  effort  in  behalf  of  Africa.  The  following  fully 
explains  why  it  had  accomplished  so  little  in  the  past, 
and  its  attitude  toward  Africa  : 

"Whereas,  God  has  graciously  preserved  our  mission 
in  Africa  through  all  the  distractions  and  burdens  of  the 
late  war,  and  has  blessed  our  labors  there,  making  the 
mission  a  marked  power  for  good  among  the  people,  thus 
showing  His  approbation  of  our  efforts ;  therefore, 

^^  Resolved,  1.  That  we  realize  our  responsibility  as  a 
board  and  a  Church,  and  we  call  upon  our  people  every- 
where to  give  more  liberally  of  their  means,  that  we  may 
prosecute  that  work  with  greater  energy. 


78  HISTORY   OF    THE 

"Resolved,  2.  That  our  thanks  are  due  to  the  mis- 
sionaries who  have  sustained  that  mission  during  the 
long  years  of  rebellion  in  this  country,  while  we  were 
compelled  to  turn  aside  to  exterminate  the  heathenish 
institution  of  slavery  in  America." 

Rev.  0.  Hadley  and  wife  were  appointed  at  this  meet- 
ing to  go  to  Africa.  Mr.  Billheimer  having  been  absent 
from  the  mission  for  some  time,  and  having  retired  from 
the  service  of  the  society,  Mr.  Williams  had  been  in 
charge  as  on  former  occasions,  doing  as  well  as  could  be 
expected.     The  following  was  adopted  at  this  meeting  : 

"Whereas,  The  non-episcopal  bodies  have  recently 
proved  the  practicability  of  an  organic  union  between 
different  denominations  of  similar  doctrines  and  church 
polity ;  and  whereas,  we  believe  that  it  is  our  duty  as  a 
board  of  missions  to  heed  the  indications  of  Providence, 
and  to  not  only  pray  but  labor,  that  God's  people  may 
be  one,  as  Christ  and  the  Father  are  one ;  therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  we  request  our  bishops  to  open  cor- 
respondence with  the  bishops  of  the  Evangelical  Asso- 
ciation, with  a  view  to  the  union  of  our  church  and 
that  body,  believing  that  such  a  measure  would  greatly 
strengthen  the  arms  of  the  two  bodies  in  their  labors 
for  the  evangelization  of  the  world."  • 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  this  union  was  not  consum- 
mated. Owing  to  an  unhappy  turn  in  affairs  soon  after 
the  above  action  was  taken,  very  little  effort  was  made  to 
bring  the  question  before  the  people  of  the  two  churches ; 
hence  nothing  was  done.  Were  they  one,  and  truly  one, 
what  a  power  for  good  they  would  be  —  each  having  ele- 
ments of  strength  and  success  which  are  much  needed 
in  the  other.  Were  those  holding  the  helms  of  these 
ships  of  Zion  intent  on  bringing  them  together,  there 
is  but  little  doubt  that  it  could  be  done.     This  would 


UNITED   BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  79 

greatly  help  them  in  carrying  forward  the  work  of  the 
world's  evangelization,^  both  at  home  and  abroad.  In 
jDlace  of  the  old  names,  as  now,  "Evangelical  Brethren" 
Avould  be  a  suitable  title. 

The  fourteenth  annual  meeting  of  the  board  took  place 
in  Bridgeport,  Ohio,  May  17,  1867.  Rev.  J.  C.  Bright,  a 
member  of  the  board  from  its  organization,  and  its  first 
corresponding  secretary,  had  died  during  the  year.  The 
following  action  of  the  board  shows  the  esteem  in  which 
he  was  held:  "In  the  death  of  Brother  Bright  we  have 
lost  a  most  zealous  and  efficient  member,  the  cause  of 
missions  an  earnest  friend,  the  Church  and  the  world  a 
true  Christian." 

The  Missionary  Visitor  was  exerting  a  healthy  influ- 
ence. The  corresponding  secretary,  its  editor,  expressed 
a  desire  to  enlarge  and  improve  it,  as  soon  as  its  circula- 
tion brought  money  sufficient  to  do  so  without  loss.  He 
also  recommended  to  the  board  the  propriety  of  project- 
ing another  mission  in  Europe  or  Asia.  The  Tennessee 
and  Kentucky  missions  had  been  organized  into  mission 
conferences,  each  having  five  ministers.  In  both  we  had 
lost  heavily  during  the  war,  but  were  now  recovering 
rapidly.  Southern  Illinois  had  but  little  success.  Par- 
kersburg  lost  one  of  its  faithful  missionaries  by  death, 
but  grew  very  rapidly.  Missouri  also  had  a  good  5^ear, 
and  Kansas  the  best  in  its  history.  California  succeeded 
well,  but  Cascade,  in  Washington  Territory,  not  so  well, 
mainly  on  account  of  lack  of  laborers.  Minnesota  had 
peculiar  difficulties,  and  its  missionaries  many  hard- 
ships, and  did  not  grow  much  during  the  year.  Neither 
did  Wisconsin  succeed  well,  and  Fox  River  still  less. 
North  Michigan  continued  to  prosper,  but  Canada  sus- 
tained numerical  loss  by  the  removal  of  many  of  its 
members  to  other  localities.      Home   missions  did  not 


80  HISTORY   OF   THE 

increase  in  numbers  much,  but  upon  some  of  them  there 
had  been  revivals  of  religion,  resulting  in  much  good, 
and  adding  thousands  to  the  membership  of  the  Church, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hadley  had  reached  Africa  on  December 
13,  1866,  having  sailed  from  New  York  on  the  22d  of 
October.  Shortly  after  their  arrival,  Mr.  Hadley  wrote : 
"  We  were  both  pleased  with  the  location  and  condition 
of  the  mission  at  first,  but  on  a  closer  examination  our 
hearts  were  made  sad.  Both  the  mission  boats  were 
unseaworthy ;  the  mission  chapel  had  been  so  eaten  by 
bug-a-bugs,  that  it  had  to  be  propped  to  keep  it  from 
falling.  The  roof  leaked  badly,  but  this  could  be  easily 
repaired.  We  use  the  mission  residence  parlor  for  wor- 
ship and  school  purposes.  This  is  the  best  we  can  do 
until  another  chapel  is  built,  which  should  be  done  as 
soon  as  possible.  I  hardly  know  what  to  say  of  the  mis- 
sion in  reference  to  spiritual  matters.  We  are  afflicted 
at  the  thought  that  so  little  is  done.  If  we  can  have  a 
revival  and  some  new  converts,  it  would  go  better.  We 
want  new  converts  to  preach  Christ,  and  stir  up  the  dry 
bones.  There  is  a  large  field  open  to  us.  Our  school  is 
not  well  sustained,  because  Mr.  Williams,  the  teachei.  is 
absent  part  of  the  time.  Much  might  be  said  in  refer- 
ence to  the  wants  of  the  mission.  We  feel  the  Lord  is 
with  us,  and  from  thirty  to  forty  attend  Sabbath  ser- 
vices." The  terrible  climate  of  West  Africa,  so  ruinous 
to  the  health  of  people  going  there  from  the  higher  lati- 
tudes, is  also  a  hard  ]3lace  on  boats  and  buildings.  These 
being  in  the  care  of  a  native  missionary  so  long,  though 
he  did  what  he  thought  was  best  to  preserve  them,  were 
in  a  dilapidated  condition  truly.  Just  before  Mr.  Had- 
ley reached  the  mission,  Mr.  Williams  wrote:  "How 
anxiously  I  am  waiting  for  the  reinforcement  of  this  mis- 
sion.    There  have  been  revivals  of  religion  in  Freetown, 


UNITED   BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  81 

and  many  have  been  converted.    Here,  my  wife  and  I, 
a  little  girl,  and  T.  Tucker  are  the  only  Christians.^' 

The  fifteenth  annual  session  of  the  hoard  met  in  West- 
field,  Illinois,  May  21,  1868.  Although  there  were,  as 
usual,  some  failures,  yet  the  fact  that  about  seven  thou- 
sand persons  had  been  received  into  the  Church  by  our 
missionaries,  shows  a  year  of  real  prosperity.  The  secre- 
tary, in  his  report,  urged  that  a  church-erection  fund  be 
Tirovided.  as  many  people  converted  under  the  labors  of 
our  missionaries  were  lost  to  the  Church  because  we  did 
not  provide  houses  of  worship.  Other  churches  did,  and 
thereby  often  established  themselves  ,  in  communities 
where  we  had  the  most  members,  who  often  left  us 
and  went  to  those  who  furnished  such  accommodations. 
However,  it  was  thought  not  wise  to  attempt  anything 
at  this  meeting,  as  there  were  so  many  other  interests 
calling  for  the  expenditure  of  money. 

The  Missionary  Visitor  had  reached  a  circulation  of 
eleven  thousand.  Xew  missions  had  been  projected  in 
Southern  Missouri,  Colorado,  and  among  the  Germans 
in  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  some  little  accomplished  upon 
them,  but  there  were  as  yet  no  special  results.  The  Cali- 
fornia, Missouri,  Parkersburg,  and  North  Michigan  con- 
ferences continued  to  prosper,  some  of  them  very  rapidly, 
and  all  of  them  encouragingly.  Minnesota,  Wisconsin, 
Fox  River,  and  Cascade  did  reasonably  well,  as  did 
Kentucky;  but  in  Tennessee,  Canada,  and  Southern 
Illinois  there  was  a  great  lack  of  laborers,,  and  corre- 
spondingly small  results.  Home  missions  had  an  unu- 
sually prosperous  year,  and  a  number  of  them  had  grown 
strong  enough  to  become  self-supporting.  The  missions 
in  America,  with  slight  exceptions,  met  the  expectations 
of  their  friends ;  but  the  foreign  work  was  not  so  hope- 
ful, as  the  following  in  regard  to  it  readily  shows : 


82  HISTORY   OF   THE 

Owing  to  the  little  success  we  were  having  in  Africa, 
the  lack  of  money  to  man  it  properly,  and  great  diffi- 
culty in  finding  missionaries  who  could  live  in  that 
torrid  climate,  Mr.  Hadley  was  asked  if  Ave  had  not  bet- 
ter abandon  that  field.  He  replied  as  folloAvs  :  "  I  doubt 
if  there  is  a  field  in  the  world  harder  than  tliis.  The 
climate  is  a  great  drawback  here.  By  the  time  we  are 
prepared  to  work  we  die,  or  must  go  home  to  recruit 
health.  Slavery  exists  here,  and  polygamy.  These  breed 
caste,  pride,  indolence,  robbery,  degradation.  The  want 
of  veracity  is  a  great  evil.  I  almost  think  they  are  all 
liars.  The  mission  has  but  little  hold  upon  them.  They 
do  not  feel  that  Christianity  is  their  religion."  After 
hearing  all  this  and  more,  from  a  man  on  the  field  —  a 
man  of  good  judgment  and  heart  —  the  board  resolved 
to  prosecute  the  v/ork  with  still  greater  energy.  The 
sentiment  of  the  board  was,  that  the  abandonment  of 
that  mission  would  be  a  virtual  declaration  that  the 
gospel  of  Christ  was  not  adapted  to  that  people,  which 
would  be  repudiating  the  whole  system  of  Christianity 
as  a  snare  and  a  deception ;  that  the  only  consistent 
course  was  to  go  forward  with  full  faith  that  the  gospel 
was  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation,  and  that  "in  due 
season  we  shall  reap  if  we  faint  not."  It  pledged  its 
sympathies,  prayers,  and  aid  to  the  cause  of  missions  in 
Africa,  and  tlianked  God  that  a  measure  of  health  and 
great  consecration  had  been  given  those  whom  the  board 
had  sent  there  as  missionaries.  A  very  few  would  have 
given  up  the  mission,  but  a  large  majority  strenuously 
opposed  it. 

The  sixteenth  annual  session  of  the  hoard  met  on  the  19th 
of  May,  1869,  in  Annvilk,  Pennsylvania,  close  to  the 
place  in  which  the  General  Conference  met  the  day  fol- 
lowing.    The  secretary  had  urged  the  General  Confer- 


UNITED  BRETHREN  MISSIONS.  83 

ences  of  1861  and  1865  to  adopt  a  rule  that  would  give 
the  board  a  certain  proportion  of  all  moneys  collected 
for  missions  by  the  annual  conferences.  Up  to  this 
time  each  annual  session  gave  the  board  what  it  felt  it 
could  spare  after  it  had  provided  for  its  home  missions. 
A  few  conferences  gave  one  half,  others  one  third, 
some  but  a  fourth,  and  even  less.  The  result  was,  that 
more  than  two  thirds  of  the  missionary  money  was  ex- 
pended on  home  missions.  This  was  neither  wise  nor 
just  to  the  board,  which  had  to  care  for  the  foreign  field 
and  an  extensive  frontier  field,  and  pay  the  salaries  of 
officers  and  the  contingent  expenses  of  the  missionary 
society,  such  as  publishing  annual  reports,  certificates 
of  life  membership,  and  subscription  cards,  with  less 
than  one  third  of  the  money  collected.  The  secretary, 
in  both  his  annual  and  quadrennial  reports,  argued  that 
the  people  could  not  be  made  to  feel  that  the  heathen  of 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  elsewhere  on 
the  home  mission  field  should  receive  so  much  of  their 
money,  while  thousands  in  the  South  and  West,  and 
millions  of  heathen  more  destitute  should  get  so  little. 
He  urged  this  rule  as  a  means  to  increase  the  collections 
for  missions,  saying  then  and  often  afterward,  that  there 
was  no  reason  why  we  cannot  collect  an  average  of  one 
dollar  to  the  member  throughout  the  Church,  which 
would  give  twice  the  amount  received.  His  pleading 
was  more  successful  than  on  former  occasions. 

Another  matter  was  brought  before  the  board  and 
General  Conference  which  excited  much  interest,  and 
was  also  decided  on  the  side  of  progress  and  right,  viz. : 
Should  we  longer  continue  the  African  mission  ?  Three 
missionaries  were  there  most  of  the  year,  but  the  work 
had  not  gone  forward  as  prosperously  as  was  desired. 
Mr.  Hadley,  on  account  of  his  health,  returned  with  his 


84  HISTORY   OF    THE 

wife  to  America  on  the  tenth  of  the  previous  month,  and 
died  on  the  21st  of  April,  just  eleven  days  after  reach- 
ing his  home.  Their  return  and  unfavorable  report  of 
the  work,  with  a  feeling  quite  general  among  our  people 
that  we  were  not  able  to  furnish  the  money  to  make  it  a 
success,  made  the  outlook  for  that  mission  dark  indeed. 
Notwithstanding  all  these  things,  the  secretary  said : 
"  A  glorious  harvest  of  souls  Avill  yet  ere  long  be  gath- 
ered there  by  the  Church  which  will  sustain  laborers  in 
that  field."  After  the  question  was  discussed  p?'o  and  con 
for  some  time,  the  General  Conference  decided  it  should 
not  be  abandoned,  but  the  way  be  kept  open  to  go  for- 
ward as  soon  as  laborers  and  money  could  be  obtained 
to  prosecute  the  work.  While  there  was  much  to  dis- 
courage even  its  warmest  friends,  they  felt  a  brighter 
day  would  dawn  if  we  held  fast  our  profession  of  faith 
in  the  power  of  the  gospel  to  save  to  the  uttermost  even 
the  most  degraded.  True,  we  had  neither  laborers  nor 
money  just  then,  but  we  felt  they  would  be  forthcoming 
in  due  time.  How  far  these  have  been  su^^plied,  will  be 
seen  in  subsequent  chapters  of  this  volume,  as  well  as 
the  results  of  continuing  the  African  mission. 

During  the  year  a  new  mission  was  commenced  in 
Dakota,  and  another  in  Central  Missouri,  both  of  which 
succeeded  well.  The  German  missions  in  Columbus  and 
Toledo,  Ohio,  progressed  slowly,  but  not  to  the  extent 
desired.  About  one  half  of  the  mission  conferences 
had  done  well ;  some,  unusually  so,  as  Parkersburg  and 
North  Michigan.  The  latter  asked  to  be  made  self-sup- 
porting. The  other  half  had  advanced  slowly;  some, 
not  at  all.  Kansas  had  grown  large  enough  for  two,  and 
Southern  Illinois  Mission  felt  that  it  ought  to  become  a 
mission  conference.  There  had  been  large  additions  of 
members  to  the  Church  upon  a  number  of  home  mis- 


UNITED   BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  85 

sions,  which  were  generally  only  moderately  successful. 
The  Missionary  Visitor^  the  organ  of  the  society,  had 
now  a  circulation  of  fourteen  thousand,  principally  in 
Sunday-schools,  but  was  read  by  most  of  the  itinerant 
preachers  and  Sunday-school  teachers,  and  was  doing  a 
good  work  for  missions  and  Sunday-schools. 

At  the  end  of  the  fourth  quadrennial  term,  May,  1869, 
there  were  one  hundred  and  seventy-seven  missionaries 
in  the  home,  ninety-nine  in  the  frontier,  and  up  to 
within  a  month  of  that  time,  three  in  the  foreign  depart- 
ments; making  a  total  of  two  hundred  and  seventy- 
nine.  These  were  preaching  in  over  fourteen  hundred 
I^laces,  at  only  two  hundred  of  which  there  were  meeting- 
houses. There  were  twenty-three  thousand  members, 
and  six  hundred  Sunday-schools  with  over  twenty-two 
thousand  scholars  attending  them  upon  these  missions. 
Although  there  was  much  to  discourage  in  the  foreign 
field,  yet  the  increased  zeal  for  missions  which  was 
moving  the  Church  as  never  before,  was  largely  due  to 
the  presentation  of  the  degradation  of  the  people  of 
Africa,  which  was  in  various  ways  kept  in  view. 

The  foUowing  tal)le  shows  the  amount  expended  upon 
the  missions  for  the  four  years  ending  May,  1869 : 

Africa $  6,183  45 

California 1,560  82 

Central  Missouri  (in  South  Missouri)  Mission..  142  00 

Dakota  Mission 125  00 

Fox  River 1,300  00 

Kansas 1,638  36 

Kentucky 2,281  00 

Minnesota 1,591  34 

Missouri 2,480  05 

North  Michigan 1,321  00 

Ontario l 1,355  54 

Ohio  German 1,210  00 

Parkersburg 1,800  00 


86  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Soiithern  Illinois 1,842  75 

Tennessee 3,601  34 

Walla  Walla 1,500  28 

Wisconsin 1,096  50 

Total $3I,02&  38 

There  was  collected  on  the  above-named  mission  fields 
as  salary  for  the  support  of  missionaries,  $50,271.44. 
Amount  paid  to  home  missionaries,  including  what  was 
received  from  branch  treasurers,  $188,239.53;  making  a 
grand  total  in  the  four  years,  for  the  three  departments, 
of  $275,723.80. 


UNITED   BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  87 


CHAPTER   XII. 

From  1869  to  1873. 

Work  commenced  in  Germany —  Rev.  J.  Gomer  and  wife  go  to  Africa — 
Frontier  work  enlarged  —  Opposition  to  our  work  in  Germany  — 
Skies  brightening  in  Africa  —  Rev.  J.  A.  Evans  and  Mrs.  Hadley 
go  to  Africa  —  D.  F.  Wilberforce  comes  to  Dayton  —  JMissionary 
Visilor  and  the  work  generally  successful. 

The  seventeenth  annual  session  of  the  board  was  held  near 
Fremont,  Ohio,  on  the  18th  of  August,  1870,  being  three 
months  later  than  usual.  The  General  Conference  of 
1869  re-elected  the  same  persons  for  president,  secretary, 
and  treasurer  of  the  missionary  society  who  had  served 
the  previous  term,  to  continue  four  years  longer.  As 
usual,. a  few  changes  occurred  among  the  other  members 
of  the  board.  At  the  annual  meeting  held  the  year  be- 
fore, it  was  agreed  to  commence  a  mission  in  Germany. 
In  October,  1869,  Rev.  C.  Bischofif  and  wife  sailed  for 
that  country,  having  received  an  appointment  from  the 
executive  committee  a  short  time  before.  They  com- 
menced their  labors  in  Naila  Bavaria.  In  that  kingdom 
the  civil  authorities  were  required  by  law  to  exercise  a 
strict  surveillance  over  all  independent  religious  organi- 
zations, which  were  denied  liberties  granted  to  the  state 
churches.  This,  with  the  fact  that  there  was  war  between 
Prussia  and  France,  placed  many  difficulties  in  their 
way,  and  made  the  work  slow  at  first.  Before  the  year 
closed,  however,  matters  took  a  favorable  turn,  so  that  at 
the  annual  meeting  the  following  record  was  made  in  the 
minutes  of  the  board :  "We  are  highly  gratified  to  learn 
that  our  missionary  in  Germany  has  been  eminently 


88  HISTORY   OF   THE 

successful.  As  a  result  of  his  labors,  seventy-two  have 
united  with  the  Church.  We  recommend  that  the  execu- 
tive committee  make  arrangements  to  send  an  additional 
missionary  to  Germany  as  soon  as  practicable." 

While  this  encouraging  intelligence  reached  us  from 
Germany,  serious  hindrances,  mainly  growing  out  of  an 
empty  treasury,  continued  in  Africa.  Hence  the  board 
adopted  the  following  at  this  meeting : 

"  Whereas,  the  executive  committee  during  the  year 
did  not  see  its  way  clear  to  send  laborers  to  this  field, 
and  we  are  not  able  to  do  so  now ;  therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  we  will  give  our  mission-property  in 
Africa,  with  the  missionary  on  the  ground,  Rev.  J.  A. 
Williams,  into  the  care  of  the  American  Missionary  As- 
sociation until  May,  1873 ;  also,  that  we  will  give  what 
is  needed  to  support  Mr.  Williams  during  the  period 
named." 

The  corresponding  secretary  of  our  society  and  the 
corresponding  secretary  of  the  American  Missionary  As- 
sociation had  met  the  previous  month  in  Oberlin,  Ohio, 
at  the  instance  of  their  respective  executive  committees, 
and  considered  the  conditions  upon  which  said  transfer 
should  take  place.  The  last  letter  from  the  secretary  of 
the  American  Missionary  Association  to  our  secretary, 
written  but  a  few  days  before  this  meeting,  contained 
the  following :  "Our  executive  committee  has  authorized 
me  to  complete  any  arrangements  that  can  be  effected 
with  you,  that  will  not  involve  increased  expense  to  us, 
which  I  think  can  be  done." 

During  these  well-meant  but  mistaken  efforts  of  our 
board  and  executive  committee  to  roll  upon  others  the 
responsibility  of  carrying  forward  the  mission  in  Africa, 
our  native  laborer  there,  Ilcv.  J.  A.  Williams,  still  held 
the  fort.     He  taught  a  small  school  part  of  the  time,  and 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  89 

did  some  jDreaching.     He   was  necessarily  absent  occa- 
sionally to  get  supplies  for  himself  and  family.    Pending 
negotiations  between  our  committee  and  the  committee 
of  the  American  Missionary  Association,  the  intelligence 
reached  Dayton,  Ohio,  that  Mr.  Williams  had  died  Sep- 
tember 25th,  which  was  but  two  weeks  after  the  annual 
meeting.      This  caused  some  to  be  more  decided  than 
ever  before  in  favor  of  our  society  prosecuting  with  vigor 
the  African  mission.      Our  secretary,,  who  had    merely 
favored  a  transfer  of  the  mission  to  the  American  Mis- 
sionary Association  for  the  time  being,  because  it  seemed 
to  be  the  one  hope  of  retaining  it  at  all,  now  proposed  to 
the  executive  committee  that  Mr.  J.  Gomer  and  wife  be  7 
appointed  to  go,  and  that  he  would  accompany  them,     ? 
and  remain  a  year  in  Africa.     The  committee,  after  de-     / 
ferring  final  action  for  one  week,  decided  not  to  accept     * 
the  offer  of  the  secretary,  but  to  appoint  Mr.  Gomer  and 
wife  to  that  field.     Accordingly  they  sailed  December  10, 
1870,  and  reached  Africa  in  one  month. 

During  the  year  excellent  success  attended  the  efforts 
put  forth  on  both  frontier  and  home  missions.  There 
were  more  extensive  revivals  of  religion,  and  more  new 
Sunday-schools  organized,  as  well  as  more  new  houses 
of  Avorship  erected,  as  a  result  of  the  labors  of  our 
missionaries,  than  ever  before  in  the  same  length  of 
time.  Colorado  mission  was  commenced,  Osage  and 
East  German  mission  conference  were  organized,  and 
reinforcements  were  sent  to  Southern  Illinois  and  Da- 
kota missions.  The  prosperity,  though  cheering,  was 
not  general.  A  few  missions  and  conferences,  owing 
mainly  to  a  lack  of  wise  master  builders  fully  conse- 
crated to  the  work  of  saving  men,  had  but  little  growth, 
and  some  none  at  all.  The  secretary,  besides  presenting 
to  the  board  the  usual  annual  report,  submitted  an  eight 


90  HISTORY   OF   THE 

page  tract,  in  which  he  sketched  the  origin,  progress  and 
needs  of  the  society,  which  was  ordered  published,  and 
fifteen  thousand  were  sent  out  to  the  churches.  In  this 
way,  and  through  the  Church  papers,  especially  the  3{is- 
sionary  Visitor^  which  was  still  enlarging  its  circulation, 
our  people  were  more  and  more  enlisted  in  the  cause  of 
missions. 

The  eighteenth  annual  session  of  the  board  met  in  Canton, 
Ohio,  August  5,  1871.  The  secretary  in  his  report  in- 
sisted upon  a  more  aggressive  and  progressive  policy. 
He  recommended  the  publication  of  missionary  tracts, 
circulars,  and  collecting  cards  for  free  distribution ;  and 
also  urged  the  publication  of  the  history  of  missions  in 
the  Church,  and  that  something  more  effective  be  done 
to  secure  money  for  the  church-erection  society,  which, 
by  order  of  the  General  Conference,  was  to  be  managed 
by  the  missionary  board.  As  he  was  the  only  paid  officer 
of  these  societies,  and  had  the  Missionary  Visitor  to  edit, 
the  annual  and  quadrennial  reports  to  prepare,  wrote 
about  one  thousand  letters  and  attended  from  ten  to 
twelve  annual  conferences,  and  delivered  from  eighty  to 
one  hundred  missionary  talks  in  the  form  of  addresses 
and  sermons  annually,  yet  not  more  than  half  the  work 
was  accomplished,  necessary  to  keep  missions  and  church- 
erection  before  the  people  as  they  ought  to  be  impressed 
upon  their  attention.  He  especially  urged  that  steps 
be  taken  to  enlist  all  the  Sunday-schools  of  the  Church 
in  the  great  work  of  Christian  missions,  and  that  they 
be  asked  to  contribute  money  to  this  object.  He  also 
said  that  the  Missionary  Visitor,  which  was  commenced 
with  doubts  as  to  its  success,  had  then  obtained  a  circu- 
lation of  twenty-five  thousand  copies.  I'his  was,  indeed, 
a  gratifying  success  accompiished  in  six  years. 

In  Germany,  owing  to  the  opposition  to  our  work 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  91 

upon  the  part  of  the  civil  and  state  church  officials,  the 
missionary  there  could  barely  hold  the  ground  he  had 
obtained  the  previous    year,  and  reported   no  progress 
beyond  that.     A  second  man  could  not  be  found  to  go 
to  Germany  during  the  year,  as  was  directed  at  the  pre- 
vious meeting.     In  Africa  the  skies  began  to  brighten"^ 
somewhat.     Mr.  Gomer  and  wife  had  received  a  hearty  ', 
welcome  upon  the  part  of  the  chief  and  people  of  Shain- 
gay.     About  five  months  after  they  began  their  labors, 
Mr.  Gomer  wrote:    "Our   meetings   are  well  attended. 
Chief  Caulker  himself  comes  to  them,  and  allows  his 
slaves  to  come  to  the  Sunday-school.      He  enjoins  on 
all  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath.     Yea,  more;  he  has 
become  a  professed  Christian,  and  urges  others  to  do  the 
same.     The  people  were  very  attentive,  especially  when 
the  chief  spoke  to  them  in  Sherbro."    Such  news  greatly  / 
encouraged  the  Church,  after  the  long,  dark  time  that  she  j 
had  waited  for  good  news  from  that  benighted  land. 

During  the  year  another  missionary  was  sent  to  Colo- 
rado, and  met  with  moderate  success.  Dakota  mis- 
sion, with  four  missionaries,  enjoyed  a  successful  year. 
Southern  Illinois  also  succeeded  well.  Kentucky  fiad 
'considerable  opposition  from  Ku-klux,  but  still  moved 
forward.  The  German  missions  in  Columbus  and  To- 
ledo, Ohio,  prospered  very  little.  There  were  gratifying 
results  in  the  Parkersburg,  Tennessee,  Missouri,  and 
Osage  mission  conferences.  Kansas  and  Minnesota  made 
slow  progress,  and  Fox  River  and  Wisconsin  had  rather 
a  good  year.  Ontario,  Cascade,  and  California  were  but 
little  stronger  at  the  end  of  the  year  than  at  the  begin- 
ning. Home  missions  had  in  the  main  a  prosperous 
year.  As  is  often  the  case,  the  fields  of  labor  lying  ad- 
jacent to  prosperous  home  missions  were  this  year  greatly 
stimulated  to  increased  activity.     Home  missions  have 


/ 


92  HISTORY   OF   THE 

brought  into  the  Church  many  zealous  laborers  in  the 
vineyard  of  the  Master. 

The  nineteenth  annual  session  of  the  board  met  August 
9,  1872,  in  Baltimore,  Maryland,  in  the  church  erected 
by  Rev.  William  Otterbein,  the  founder  of  the  Church  of 
the  United  Brethren  in  Christ.  Meeting  in  this  historic 
place,  brought  to  this  session  a  large  number  of  earnest 
missionary  workers.  The  elements  of  character  which 
made  the  great  Otterbein  so  eminent  a  Christian  and 
so  successful  a  missionar}',  with  the  results  of  his  life 
and  labors  as  seen  in  the  city  of  Baltimore  and  else- 
where, were  a  stimulus  to  the  meeting,  verifying  the 
truth  that  "though  dead,  he  yet  speaketh." 

The  year  wliich  had  just  closed  was  a  marked  one  in 
the  history  of  the  society,  as  will  be  seen  in  what  fol- 
lows. Though  the  cr}^  of  hard  times  was  general,  and 
most  charitable  institutions  had  barely  held  their  own, 
or  had  lost  ground,  our  financial  success  was  greater 
than  in  any  former  year. 

Our  progress  in  Africa  was  also  much  better  than  ever 
before.  Sixty-three  persons  were  baptized,  and  scores  of 
otnfers  had  been  awakened  to  a  sense  of  their  need  of 
salvation.  Chief  Caulker  had  for  months  professed  faith 
in  Christ,  and  had  lived  a  consistent  Christian  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  soon  after  the  former  meeting  of 
the  board.  To  thus  be  saved  from  a  heathen  life  at  the 
age  of  about  eighty  years,  was  indeed  a  remarkable 
trophy  of  grace. 

Rev.  J.  A.  Evans  and  Mrs.  Hadley  were  sent  to  Africa 
late  in  October,  1871.  They  suffered  a  good  deal  with 
sickness  during  the  year,  as  did  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gomer,  but 
still  the  good  work  progressed.  There  was  great  need 
of  a  chapel  there,  for  which  special  contributions  were 
solicited,  and  which  had  Ijrought  to  the  missionary  treas- 


UNITED    BRETHREN   MISSIONS,  93 

ury  about  sixteen   hundred  dollars.     The  missionaries 
felt  they  could  not  wait  until  this  house  was  completed, 
and  therefore  had  a  country-built  chapel  erected.     There 
was  also  this  fact  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  board,  viz. : 
that  while  the  secretary  was  in  New  York  assisting  Mr. 
Evans  and  Mrs.  Hadley  to  procure  their  outfit  for  Africa, 
he  met  with  a  colored  boy,  Daniel  Flickinger  Wilber- 
force,  who  was  born  in  Africa,  during  his  second  visit 
there,  in  1857.     This  namesake  of  the  writer  had  come  to 
America  as  the  servant  and  nurse  of  two  afflicted  mis- 
sionaries—husband  and  wife.     He  was  employed  in  the 
rooms  of  the  American  Missionary  Association,  in  New 
York,  awaiting  the  sailing  of  a  vessel  to  return  to  his 
home.     When  the  secretary  asked  the  colored  boy  his 
name  and  the  boy  promptly  answered  as  above,  a  clap  of 
thunder  out  of  a  clear  sky  would  not  have  surprised  him 
more,  for  he  little  dreamed  that  his  namesake  was  then 
in  xVmerica.     The  result  of  this  was  that  Daniel  came  to 
Dayton,  Ohio,  and  entered  school  the  first  of  December, 
1871.     Within  two  months  he  was  converted  and  united 
with  the  Church,  and  from  that  time  until  he  graduated 
from  the  Dayton  High  School  in  1878,  and  was  ordained 
an  elder  in  the  Church  two  months  later,  he  did  well  both 
as  a  scholar  and  a  Christian.     He  was  married  in  Octo- 
ber, 1878,  and  with  his  wife  sailed  for  Africa  the  follow- 
ing month,  where  they  have  labored  ever  since  as  mis- 
sionaries.     The   remarkable  providence  which   brought 
him  to  America  and  to  Dayton,  Ohio,  and  returned  him 
to  Africa  a  well-educated  minister  of  the  gospel,  clearly 
shows  that  God's  hand  was  directing  him.     He  has  had 
charge  of  the  Clark  Training-School,  as  principal,  ever 
since  it  was  opened.     Truly,  the  Lord  has  Avrought  won- 
ders, both  in  Africa  and  in  America,  on  behalf  of  that 
mission ;  and  he  thus  speaks  to  the  Church  as  he  did  to 


94  HISTORY    OF    THE 

the  children  of  Israel  at  the  Red  Sea,  ''Go  forward," 
Alas !  that  tliis  command  has  been  so  tardily  obeyed. 

The  mission  in  German}'  had  not  made  any  progress. 
Indeed,  there  was  danger  of  losing  much  that  had  been 
done  the  first  year,  as  one  man  could  not  turn  to  good 
account  the  advantages  gained,  and  the  executive  com- 
mittee failed  to  obtain  an  additional  laborer,  as  it 
wished,  to  go  to  his  assistance.  The  board  was  discour- 
aged, and  some  thought  if  help  could  not  be  procured 
soon,  all  effort  in  Germany  had  better  cease. 

The  Dakota  and  Colorado  missions  were  organized 
into  mission  conferences,  but  owing  to  the  severe  win- 
ter, our  missionaries  in  the  West  and  Northwest  were 
much  hindered  in  itinerating,  and  suffered  greatly  on 
account  of  the  intensely  cold  weather.  Notwithstanding, 
there  was  more  or  less  prosperity  in  all  the  mission  con- 
ferences; and  in  Nebraska,  where  mission' work  had  been 
resumed  after  it  had  been  given  up  for  years,  there  was 
rapid  growth.  The  missions  in  Kentucky,  Southern 
Illinois,  Toledo  and  Columbus,  Ohio,  had  no  decline, 
and  in  some  of  them  there  Avas  a  fair  degree  of  growth 
within  the  year. 

The  board  agreed  at  this  meeting  to  do  something  for 
the  freedmen  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley  of  Virginia,  and 
made  a  small  appropriation  for  this  purpose.  It  also 
pledged  itself  anew  to  pay  one  half  of  the  money  neces- 
sary to  support  a  missionary  in  Philadelphia,  Pennsyl- 
vania, provided  the  East  German  Conference  would  pay 
the  other  half  and  furnish  a  man  for  that  purpose.  As 
a  rule,  the  year  was  more  favorable  to  home  than  to  fron- 
tier missions.  These  receive  closer  supervision,  and  the 
annual  conferences  have  better  facilities  for  selecting 
suitable  missionaries  and  for  knowing  the  probabilities 
of  affairs  than  the  board. 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  95 

The  Missionary  Visitor  had  now  a  circuLation  of  thirty 
thousand.  The  question  was  also  discussed  as  to  whether 
the  board  ought  not  publish  a  monthly  magazine  of 
thirty-two  pages,  devoted  to  missions  and  Sunday-school 
lesson-lielps.  The  secretary  insisted  that  the  time  had 
come  when  we  should  publish  our  own  Sunday-school 
lesson-notes,  and  that,  unless  otherwise  provided  for,  he 
Avould  do  this  in  the  Missionary  Visitor.  The  former  was 
done. 

The  board  at  this  meeting  ordered  a  first-class  steel- 
plate  engraving  made  for  certificates  of  life  membership 
and  life  directorship  of  the  missionary  society,  which 
was  perfected  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  concerned. 

The  secretary  had  also  urged  the  appointment  of  suita- 
ble persons  to  write  the  history  of  missions  in  the 
annual  conferences.  The  appointments  were  made,  but 
more  than  half  failed  to  accomplish  their  Avork.  The 
treasurer,  Rev.  Wm.  McKee,  having  written  a  history  of 
Sherbro  mission,  in  Africa,  of  about  two  hundred  pages, 
it  was  urged  that  an  appendix  embracing  the  most  im- 
portant facts  and  statistics  from  the  whole  mission  field 
.of  the  Church  be  added  to  the  book,  and  thus  published, 
which  was  done,  making  a  readable  and  profitable 
volume. 

The  secretary  gave  a  comparative  statement  of  the 
progress  made  by  the  society  during  the  last  three  years, 
which  brought  out  some  interesting  facts,  and  which  is 
here  inserted  :  "  Three  years  ago  there  were  one  hundred 
and  ninety-three  home  missionaries,  eighty-seven  in  the 
frontier  and  three  in  the  foreign  departments  of  the 
work.  These  received,  from  all  sources,  $83,381.80.  The 
following  year  there  were  one  hundred  and  eighty-seven 
home  missionaries,  one  hundred  and  three  in  the  frontier, 
and  four  in    the   foreign    mission    fields,  who   received, 


96  HISTORY   OF   THE 

from  all  sources,  $90,334.44.  During  the  year  Avhich  has 
just  closed,  one  hundred  and  seventy-nine  home  mis- 
.'^ionaries  have  been  employed,  one  hundred  and  fourteen 
in  the  frontier  department  and  six  in  the  foreign  field, 
"Nvho  received,  from  all  sources,  the  sum  of  $98,781.03. 
The  average  salary  received  by  our  missionaries  during 
this  year  was  $330.39,. the  highest  ever  paid  up  to  this 
time."' 

Tliere  Iiad  been  a  considerable  increase  of  laborers 
employed  in  the  frontier  and  foreign  fields,  and  some 
decrease  of  home  missionaries,  -within  the  three  years 
above  considered. 

Steps  Avere  taken  at  this  meeting  to  secure  the  incor- 
poration of  the  Church-Erection  Society,  and  to  obtain 
more  money  for  its  use.  The  discussions  of  the  board 
were  ably  conducted,  especially  upon  the  following 
questions  :  "  How  shall  we  develop  the  resources  of  the 
United  Brethren  Church?"  "How  may  we  do  more  to 
send  the  gospel  to  the  heathen?"  "How  shall  the 
church-erection  fund  be  replenished?" 

The  twentieth  anniversary  of  the  missionary  society  took 
place  in  Dayton,  Ohio,  May  13,  1873.  The  efforts  to  put 
the  breath  of  life  into  the  church-erection  society  were 
not  in  vain,  for  during  the  year  help  was  given  to  four 
societies  to  assist  them  to  build  houses  of  worship.  The 
missionary  treasurer  had  devoted  part  of  his  time  to 
this  interest,  .with  gratifying  results. 

During  the  year  Southern  Illinois  Mission  had  been 
organized  into  a  mission  conference,  six  ministers  and 
five  hundred  and  twenty-two  laymen  comprising  the 
organization.  The  executive  committee  failed  to  supply 
a  laborer  for  the  freedmen's  mission  in  Virginia,  but  the 
presiding  elders  of  Virginia  Conference  held  meetings 
among  them,  and  reportfd  ninety-eight  members.     The 


UNITED    BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  97 

Western  and  Northwestern  mission  fields  were  hard  to 
cultivate  on  account  of  the  fierce  storms  and  severe  cold, 
which  kept  the  missionaries  from  holding  protracted 
meetings,  and  in  many  instances  at  some  remote  places 
no  meetings  were  held  for  weeks  together,  where  they 
usually  preached  every  two  ■  or  three  weeks.  Many  per- 
sons perished  in  the  terrible  snow-storms,  and  some  of 
our  missionaries  suffered  intensely,  but  none  fatally. 
Notwithstanding  these  things,  substantial  jirogress  had 
been  made  in  all,  or  nearly  all,  of  the  mission  confer- 
ences, and  in  a  few  there  had  been  large  ingatherings  of 
members.  Others  barely  held  their  own  in  membership, 
but  improved  otherwise.  Home  missions  had  no  such 
special  obstacles  in  their  way,  and  hence  had  average 
prosperity  during  the  year,  especiall}^  in  conferences 
which  were  wide  awake  to  this  kind  of  work  in  their 
midst. 

The  mission  in  Germany  had  been  reinforced  by  the 
addition  of  Rev.  J.  Ernst,  who  reached  it  December,  1872, 
Just  before  his  arrival,  Rev.  C.  Bischoff,  who  had  alone 
carried  forward  that  work  thus  far,  received  twenty-six 
more  members  into  the  Church,  making  in  all  about  one 
hundred.  After  our  missionaries  decided  to  separate 
entirely  from  the  state  church,  only  thirty-five  of  these 
remained  ;  the  others  were  not  willing  to  surrender  their 
privileges  in  the  church  to  which  they  belonged  by  vir- 
tue of  being  citizens  of  Bavaria.  The  civil  authorities 
forbade  the  missionaries  from  holding  further  meetings, 
and  this  caused  them  to  go  outside  of  Bavaria  and 
preach,  and  thus  societies  were  formed  elsewhere. 

The  African  mission  was  also  reinforced.  Rev.  T. 
Warner  and  wife  Avere  sent  in  October,  and  reached  the 
mission  in  the  month  following.  There  was  quite  a 
religious  interest,  extending  to  towns  and  villages  miles 

7 


98  HISTORY   OF   Til'': 

away  from  Shaingay,  the  main  station.  The  Macedonian 
call  was  made,  "Come  over  and  help  us,"  to  which  our 
missionaries  responded  as  frequently  as  they  could,  but 
they  could  not  answer  all,  though  six  missionaries  were 
now  in  the  field.  Mr.  "Warner's  special  work  was  to  su- 
perintend the  erection  of  a  new  stone  chapel,  which  was 
commenced  before  he  reached  the  mission.  This  chapel, 
although  not  finished  and  dedicated  until  March,  1875, 
was  so  nearly  completed  that  it  Avas  occupied  for  some 
time  before.  It  has  been  used  for  a  school-room,  as 
well  as  a  preaching  place,  most  of  the  time  since  1881. 
Indeed,  it  has  proved  to  be  a  very  necessary  and  use- 
ful house.  Before  it  was  built,  the  barra  in  Shaingay 
and  the  parlor  in  the  mission  residence  were  used, 
but  often  they  were  too  small  to  accommodate  all  the 
people. 

The  manner  in  which  the  funds  were  secured  to  build 
this  house  deserves  a  passing,  notice.  Its  necessity  was 
shown  through  the  Church  papers,  and  a  call  was  made 
for  money  to  be  sent  to  the  treasurer.  It  was  urged  that 
the  8unda3'-schools  and  churches,  as  well  as  individuals, 
should  voluntarily  give  Avhat  they  could.  Money  com- 
menced to  be  received  in  sums  ranging  from  twenty-five 
cents  to  five  dollars.  Occasionally  a  contribution  came 
exceeding  the  latter  amount,  but  most  of  the  sums 
received  were  less.  How  many  thousand  Sunday-school 
scholars  and  people  there  are  who  have  from  five  cents 
to  twenty-five  cents  in  that  house,  is  not  known,  but 
there  are  a  good  many.  It  is  thirty  by  forty-five  feet, 
with  walls  of  stone  and  slate-covered  roof.  It  cost  about 
three  thousand  dollars,  all  of  which  was  given  as  above 
stated.  Owing  to  some  defect  in  the  masonry  of  the 
walls,  they  had  to  be  strengthened  by  putting  in  iron 
rods  the  entire  length  of  the  wall  near  the  top.     Now 


UNITED    BUETilKEN    MISSIONS,  99 

all  is  substantial,  and  the  building  will  be  serviceable  in 
the  future,  as  it  has  been  in  the  past. 

The  activity  at  Shaingay  in  building  this  house  and 
clearing  the  ground  to  open  a  farm,  the  interesting  tours 
of  our  missionaries,  as  well  as  the  pushing  of  day  and 
Sunday-school  work,  was  creating  a  good  deal  of  interest 
among  the  people  in  that  country.  Boomphetook,  a 
village  fourteen  miles  south  of  Shaingay,  was  effectually 
reached  by  our  missionaries,  and  converts  from  heathen- 
ism to  Christianity  were  gained  there  as  well  as  at 
Shaingay. 

The  General  Conference  met  two  days  later  in  the 
same  house  in  Dayton,  Ohio,  in  which  the  board  met, 
and  made  some  changes  in  the  official  management  of 
missions.  The  financial  statistics  presented  at  this  time 
are  as  follows  for  the  four  years  ending  May,  1873  : 

Africa $13,985  45 

California 1,813  09 

Colorado 2,616  03 

East  German 110  25 

Dakota 1,583  87 

Fox  River 1,577  59 

Germany 2,216  18 

Kansas 1,286  37 

Kentucky 1,026  54 

Minnesota 1,660  80 

Missouri 1,126  10 

Nebraska 100  00 

Osage  (now  Neosho) 2,068  68 

Ontario,  or  Canada 1,779  55 

Ohio  German 4,345  75 

Parkersburg 2,315  00 

Southern  Illinois 3,190  32 

Tennessee 3,279  92 

Freedmen  in  Virginia 188  05 

Walla  Walla,  Washington  Territory 2,555  79 

Wisconsin 930  19 

Total. $49,755  60 


100  HISTORY   OF   THE 

Amount  paid  by  mission  fields,  as  salary,  in  addition 
to  these  sums  from  missionary  treasury,  $58,813.77. 
Paid  home  missions,,  received  from  fields  and  branch 
treasurers  during  the  four  years,  $252,256.22 ;  making  a 
grand  total  paid  to  home,  frontier,  and  foreign  missions, 
of  $360,825.59. 


UNITED   BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  101 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

From  1S73  to  1877. 

Change  of  president  and  treasurer  —  Women's  praying  crusade  —  Re- 
turn of  missionaries^ Work  commenced  in  Philadelphia — Rapid 
growth  in  Nebraska  —  First  churches  organized  in  Africa: — Wo- 
man's Missionary  Association  —  Missionaries  going  to  and  coming 
from  foreign  fields— Wrong  to  have  missionary  debt  —  Average  of 
one  dollar  per  capita  should  be  given. 

The  first  meeting  of  this  term,  which  was  the  twenty- 
Jirst  annual  session  of  the  hoard,  was  held  in  Olive  Branch 
Chapel,  Auglaize  County,  Ohio,  April  16,  1874.  The 
General  Conference  at  its  session  one  year  before,  elected 
Bishop  D.  Edwards  president  of  the  board,  instead  of 
Rev.  J.  J.  Glossbrenner,  who  had  served  in  this  capacity 
ever  since  the  organization  of  the  missionary  society  in 
1853.  Rev.  J.  W.  Hott  was  elected  treasurer,  in  place  of 
Rev;  Wm. -McKee,  "\,'ho  had  served  in  this  capacity  for 
eight  years.  Rev.  D,  iZ.  Flickinger  was  continued  in 
the  secretaryship,  and,  as  was  usual  at  these  quadren- 
nial meetings,  several  other  members  of  the  board  were 
discontinued  and  new  ones  put  in  their  places. 

Notwithstanding  the  cry  of  hard  times,  common  in 
the  country  during  the  year,  there  had  been  no  decrease 
in  money  to  the  missionary  treasury.  Best  of  all,  our 
mission  work  had  been  successful.  Not  less  tlian  five 
thousand  persons  had  been  converted  during  the  year 
under  the  labors  of  our  missionaries,  and  most  of  them 
had  become  members  of  the  Church.  The  secretary's  re- 
port stated:  "The  large  ingathering  of  members  into  the 
churches,  the  temperance  revival,  or  women's  crusade 
against  the  liquor  trafiic,  indicate  the  near  approach  of 


102  HISTORY   OF    THE 

better  days  for  the  church  of  Christ.  The  women's  tem- 
perance movement  is  essentially  a  missionary  Avork." 
The  secretary  also  recommended  the  organization  of  a 
Woman's  Missionary  Society  in  the  United  Brethren 
Church,  whereupon  the  board  took  the  following  action : 
"We  recommend  the  organization  ol  women's  missionary 
societies,  wherever  this  is  practicable,  in  the  annual 
conferences ;  and  if  the  Avomen's  missionary  work  should 
in  the  future  assume  the  form  of  a  general  church-organ- 
ization, this  board  will  give  it  cheerful  and  substantial 
help." 

Rev.  P.  Warner  and  wife,  and  Rev.  J.  A.  Evans  re- 
turned from  Africa  to  the  United  States  during  the  year, 
leaving  Mr.  Gomer  and  wife,  and  Mrs.  Hadley  the  only 
American  laborers  the  society  had  there.  •  The  force  be- 
ing thus  reduced,  although  the  ground  previously  gained 
was  held,  no  aggressive  work  could  be  attempted,  and, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  the  success  was  not  what  it  would 
have  been  had  the  advantages  previously  gained  been 
well  followed  up  with  a  strong  working  force  in  the  field. 
Mr.  Evans  was  employed  by  the  executive  committee  to 
labor  among  the  freedmen  of  Virginia,  which  he  did  to 
the  satisfaction  of  all  concerned. 

Rev.  C.  Bischoff,  the_  society's  pioneer  missionary  to 
Germany,  had  visited  the  United  States  in  the  spring 
of  1873,  and  was  present  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
board,  and  General  Conference  of  that  year.  He  then 
returned  to  liis  mission,  and  with  Rev.  J.  Ernst  did  what 
they  could  to  build  up  the  work,  but  with  little  success. 
The  influences  brought  to  bear  against  them  largely 
neutralized  the  good  they  sought  to  do,  but  neverthe- 
less, some  progress  was  made  outside  of  Bavaria. 

A  German  mission  was  commenced  in  Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania,  the  board   paying  lialf  the  cost  and  the 


UNITED    BRETIIUEN    MISSIONS.  103 

East  German  Conference  the  other  half,  toward  the  sup- 
port of  the  missionary.  Rev.  D.  Hoffman  being  ap- 
pointed missionary,  purchased  a  lot  and  built  a  chapel 
twenty-eight  ])y  forty-four  feet,  which  was  dedicated  in 
February  of  this  year.  The  other  missions  in  America 
under  the  supervision  of  the  board,  had  but  moderate 
prosperity,  but  the  mission  conferences,  sixteen  in  all, 
with  slight  exceptions  had  excellent  success.  During 
the  year  Nebraska  Mission  Conference,  which  had  grown 
very  rapidly,  was  organized  Avith  a  membership  of  eight 
hundred  and  forty-one  laymen  and  twenty-six  ministers. 
Oregon,  which  had  been  a  self-supporting  conference  for 
eight  years,  had  been  made  a  mission  conference  again 
by  the  General  Conference  of  1873. 

Upon  home  missions  the  results  of  the  labors  of  the 
missionaries  were  gratifying.  Quite  a  number  had  be- 
come strong  enough  to  support  their  ministers,  and  to 
contribute  money  to  send  to  destitute  places,  instead  of 
receiving  it  to  keep  a  living  ministry  in  their  midst. 
The  secretary  recommended  procuring  missionary  boxes 
to  be  given  gratis  to  Sunday-schools  and  families  who 
would  agree  to  use  them  in  collecting  missionary  money. 
The  board  approved  this,  and  they  were  given  to  all  who 
indicated  a  willingness  to  use  them  for  the  end  above 
specified. 

The  business  of  the  Missionary  Visitor^  by  order  of  the 
General  Conference  of  1873,  was  transferred  from  the 
officers  of  the  missionary  society  to  the  control  of  the 
agent  of  the  Telescope  office,  the  secretary  continuing  to 
edit  it,  and  the  society  receiving  five  hundred  dollars 
annually  from  the  publishing  house  for  his  services.  It 
continued  to  increase  in  its  circulation. 

During  the  year  five  more  societies  had  been  assisted 
from    the    church-erection    trcasnrv   to   build    houses  of 


104 


HISTOUV    OK    THE 


worship,  but  a  larger  number  of  applications  had  been 
rejected  l)ecau?e  the  treasury  was  empty.  There  was, 
still  is,  and  will  be  until  the  Avhole  world  is  enlightened, 
and  to  a  greater  extent  Christianized,  pressing  need  for 
much  more  money  for  building  houses  of  worship  and 
supporting  missionaries.  So  far  as  work  had  been  done 
during  the  year,  the  results  were  gratifying  and  the  out- 
look in  every  way  encouraging.  As  above  indicated, 
there  was  far  too  little  money  to  meet  pressing  demands 
for  enlargement,  and  these  must  of"  necessity  constantly 
increase,  as  long  as  aggressive  and  successful  work  is 
done  to  "give  the  heathen  to  Christ  for  his  inheritance, 
and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  his  possession." 

The  twenty-second  annual  meeting  of  the  board  took  place 
in  Dayton,  Ohio,  May  13,  1875.  There  having  been  seri- 
ous difliculties  in  the  way  of  our  work,  both  in  Africa 
and  Germany,  the  executive  committee  asked  the  secre- 
tary to  visit  these  fields  and  spend  as  much  time  as 
was  necessarj'-  to  understand  their  true  condition ;  con- 
sequently he  sailed  from  New  York,  November  14,  1874, 
and  on  his  return  the  following  year  arrived  in  New 
York  on  the  13th  of  May,  the  day  the  board  met.  He 
sent  a  telegram  that  he  could  not  reach  Dayton,  Ohio, 
until, the  15th,  and  hence  the  following  action:  "Being 
iinal)le  to  come  to  a  conclusion  in  regard  to  Germany 
and  Africa,  the  committee  recommends  that  action  with 
respect  to  these  fields  be  deferred  until  Mr.  Flickinger  can 
be  present  with  us."  During  the  absence  of  the  secre- 
tary, there  was  considerable  said  in  favor  of  abandoning 
Germany  as  a  mission  field,  especially  by  ministers  in 
the  Ohio  German  Conference;  hence  the  committee  to 
Avhom  the  foreign  work  was  given  to  prepare  a  report  for 
the  board  reported  as  above.  The  letters  written  by  the 
secretary  while  a])road  liad  greatly  encouraged  the  board 


UNITED   BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  105 

and  the  Church  in  respect  to  the  African  mission,  and 
all  were  now  in  favor  of  prosecuting  that  work  Avith 
renewed  energy.  It  was  somewhat  surprising  to  the 
board  to  find  the  secretary  just  as  zealous  to  continue 
the  work  in  Germany.  He  affirmed  that  he  could  vote 
to  abandon  Africa  as  readily  as  Germany.  He  "had 
seen  the  poor  people  of  Germany  in  their  oj)pressed  con- 
dition. They  needed  to  be  helped  to  a  larger  civil  and 
religi-ous  liberty,  and  the  United  Bretli:\  n  in  Christ  was 
one  of  the  churches  that  ought  to  help  them  most  ener- 
getically." This  plain,  earnest  talk  turned  the  tide,  as 
the  following  action  taken  immediately  after  it,  shows : 

"AVe  regret  to  report  that  the  laws  of  Bavaria  have 
been  enforced  against  our  missionaries  there,  so  as  to  pre- 
vent the  preaching  of  the  gospel.  We  recommend  that 
should  the  effort  now  being  made  by  Brother  Bischoff  to 
secure  permission  to  organize  a  church  there  be  unsuc- 
cessful, then  he  shall  labor  in  Saxony  with  Brother 
Ernst,  or  open  a  work  in  some  other  part  of  Germany, 
and  that  twelve  hundred  dollars  be  appropriated  to  that 
mission  for  next  year.  Also,  that  we  call  the  attention 
of  all  our  people,  and  especially  our  German  friends,  to 
the  sad  spiritual  condition  of  the  people  of  Germany, 
and  the  great  importance  of  giving  that  mission  more 
earnest  sympathy  and  support." 

Respecting  the  mission  in  Africa,  the  following  action 
of  the  board  at  this  time  shows  that  progress  had  been 
made,  and  that  the  1)oard  was  encouraged  to  give  it  sub- 
stantial support :  "  We  have  abundant  reason  to  praise 
the  great  Head  of  the  Church  for  the  success  granted 
during  the  past  year,  and  tbat  through  all  the  opposi- 
tion to  the  work,  the  word  of  the  Lord  was  not  hindered ; 
and  we  are  more  than  ever  convinced  that  the  Master 
desires  us  to   go   forward;   therefore,   Resolved,   1.    That 


106  HISTORY   OF   THE 

we  approve  of  the  changes  made  in  the  work  and  the 
employment  of  teachers  for  tlie  schools  at  Shaingay  and 
Boomphetook  so  as  to  enable  Brothers  Williams  and 
Gomer  to  visit  other  towns  and  give  the  gospel  to  many 
who  are  yet  in  darkness.  2.  We  are  thankful  to  God 
for  the  completion  of  the  new  stone  chapel  at  Shaingay, 
and  the  country-bnilt  chapel  at  Boomphetook,  both  of 
which  were  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  Almighty  God 
*by  Mr.  Flickinger  before  leaving  Africa.  3.  That  we  ap- 
prove the  course  of  the  secretary  and  the  missionaries 
in  Africa  in  organizing  societies  at  Boomphetook  and 
Shaingay,  which  are  free  from  polygamy,  slavery,  pur- 
rowi.sm,  and  the  liquor  traffic,  and  in  withholding  mem- 
bership from  women  who  are  wives  of  men  having  other 
wives.  4.  That  five  thousand  dollars  be  appropriated  to 
this  mission  for  the  current  year." 

At  the  time  these  first  societies  were  formed  in  Africa, 
drinking  and  trafficking  in  ardent  spirits  was  no  bar  to 
membership  in  other  churches  in  Sierra  Leone,  and 
membership  in  heathen  secret  societies  was  not  taken 
into  account ;  and  as  some  Sierra  Leone  i>eople  had  set- 
tled in  the  places  where  we  had  organized  our  societies, 
it  caused  some  little  stir  among  them  to  be  kept  from 
joining  our  church  for  doing  what  they  had  done  Avith 
impunity  in  other  Christian  denominations.  We  had 
much  to  contend  with  from  this  class  of  people  on 
account  of  our  temperance  views,  and  then  the  love 
these  heathen  have  for  intoxicants  was  greatly  against 
us.  We  maintained  our  position,  however,  and  do  so 
now  with  less  trouble  than  formerly. 

The  frontier  missions  of  the  Church  had  progressed  as 
well  as  usual  during  the  year.  Tlie  missions  among  the 
freedmen  in  Virginia  and  Kentucky,  and  the  German 
missions  in  Toledo,  Ohio,  and  I'liiladelpliia,  Pennsylva- 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  107 

nia,  had  moderate  success.  The  Tennessee,  Osage,  Ne- 
braska, Dakota,  Minnesota,  Colorado,  Kansas,  Missouri, 
Wisconsin,  and  Parkersburg  conferences  had  a  good  year. 
The  last  four  named  were  stricken  from  the  list  of  mis- 
sion conferences  at  this  meeting,  and  Oregon  was  put  on 
the  list  again,  as  ordered  by  the  General  Conference  of 
1873.  Oregon,  as  well  as  Walla  Walla,  California,  South- 
ern Illinois,  Fox  River,  and  Ontario  had  but  very  little 
growth,  and  in  some  there  was  a  decline,  owing  to  the 
hindrances  in  the  way  of  successful  Avork. 

Home  missions  mostly  had  a  prosperous  year.  It  is 
difficult  to  ascertain  the  real  work  of  this  department, 
owing  to  constant  changes,  which  sometimes  merge  two 
missions  into  one,  or  make  some  self-supporting,  so  that 
boundary  lines  and  the  membership  belonging  to  the 
missions  are  constantly  changing.  The  Church-Erection 
Society  during  the  year  assisted  eight  feeble  congrega- 
tions to  build  houses  of  worship,  and  the  Missionary 
Visitor  was  still  sloAvly  increasing  its  circulation. 

The  following  question  was  discussed  with  ability, 
and,  we  trust,  with  profit  to  the  cause  of  missions,  at 
this  meeting :  "  What  can  be  done  to  enlist  the  young 
men  and  women  who  are  graduating  in  our  seminaries 
and  colleges,  in  the  great  work  of  missions,  and  induce 
them  to  enter  this  field,  opened  to  us  by  the  Master,  and 
which  is  yet  so  destitute  of  efficient  laborers?" 

Taking  the  aggregate  of  results,  there  was  much  in 
the  year's  work  to  encourage  the  society,  and  the  out- 
look was  good.  God's  blessing  was  most  manifest  in 
the  work  accomplished,  though  here  and  there  a  few  dis- 
couraging things  occurred,  as  is  the  case  in  most  church 
enterprises,  missions  being  no  exception  to  the  rule. 

IVie  twenty-third  yearly  meeting  of  the  board  commenced 
May  11,  1876,  in  Dayton,  Ohio.     This  being  but  a  few 


108  HISTORY   OF    TUK 

weeks  before  the  death  of.  Bishop  Edwards,  who  liad 
been  the  president  of  the  board  from  May,  1S73,  the 
following  was  adopted:  "7?c.so/ivr7,  That  we  hereby  ex- 
press our  heartfelt  sympathy  for  our  dear  brother,  Bishop 
D  Edwards,  in  his  severe  affliction,  and  assure  him  that 
though  not  present  to  participate  in  the  business  of  this 
meeting,  he  is  not  forgotten  by  us."  The  report  of  the 
secretary  said:  "There  are  many  obligations  resting 
upon  lis  for  gratitude  to  the  Giver  of  all  good  for  His 
great  mercy  toward  us  and  our  missionaries  in  giving 
them  and  us  a  successful  year.  No  less  than  seven  thou- 
sand members  were  brought  into  our  Church  the  past 
year  through  their  instrumentality.  Amid  great  finan- 
cial depression  throughout  our  country,  the  receipts  to 
our  treasury  have  been  in  excess  of  last  year.  It  would 
be  well  for  us  to  keep  in  mind  the  fact,  however,  that  as 
a  Church  we  still  fall  far  below  the  standard  of  libcralit}^ 
that  God's  word  requires.  Your  attention  is  asked  to 
the  following  mode  for  increasing  funds  :  First,  the  pub- 
lication of  well-prepared  tracts,  showing  the  good  done. 
Secondly,  a  yearly  budget  of  news,  facts,  and  general 
intelligence  respecting  our  work,  to  be  published  in  our 
Church  papers,  and  read  by  past5rs  to  their  people,  with 
such  comments  as  will  impress  them  with  their  duty  to 
contribute  liberally  to  its  support." 

During  the  year  the  Woman's  Missionary  Association 
of  the  Church  was*  organized,  respecting  which  the  follow- 
ing resolution  was  adopted:  "That  the  proposed  efforts 
of  our  sisters  of  the  women's  board  to  open  schools  in 
towns  adjacent  to  our  missions  in  Africa,  under  the 
supervision  of  our  missionaries,  as  presented  in  tho 
action  of  said  women's  board,  has  our  entire  sympathy 
and  approval." 

The  secretary's  report  also  contained  this  sentence : 


UNITED    BRHTHREN    MISSIONS.  109 

"The  opportunity  offered  us  to  give  the  gospel  to  the 
heathen  who  come  to  our  shores,  when  it  can  be  done 
so  mucli  cheaper  than  to  go  to  China,  ought  not  longer 
pass  unimproved."  The  board  thereupon  said:  "We 
look  favorably  to  the  projection  of  a  mission  station  at 
some  point  on  the  Pacific  coast,  with  the  specific  view 
to  the  evangelization  of  the  Chinese ;  and  we  recommend 
that  the  corrresponding  secretary  ascertain  as  soon  as 
jDOSsible  Avhere  such  station  should  be  located."  The 
following  W' as  also  heartily  adopted  :  "  Resolved,  That  we 
call  the  attention  of  our  people  throughout  the  Church  to 
the  importance  of  holding  monthly  missionary  prayer- 
meetings  for  the  purpose  of  awakening  a  deep  interest  in 
the  missionary  work  and  securing  a  more  general  out- 
pouring of  God's  holy  spirit  for  its  prosecution."  It 
also  directed,  "That  the  executive  committee  continue 
Daniel  Flickinger  Wilberforce  at  the  High  School  in 
Dayton,  Ohio,  two  years  longer,  and  furnish  him  with 
such  instruction  in  vocal  and  instrumental  music  as 
should  fit  him  to  teach  the  same  upon  his  return  to  his 
native  land."  The  increase  in  the  circulation  of  the 
Missionary  Visitor  was  over  twelve  hundred  above  its  pre- 
vious highest  circulation,  and  its  net  profit,  allowing  five 
hundred  dollars  for  editQrial  work,  was  still  seven  hun- 
dred and  fifty-eight  dollars. 

The  mission  in  Germany  had  considerable  success 
during  the  year  outside  of  Bavaria,  but  we  were  forbidden 
to  work  in  that  kingdom.  Eev.  J.  Ernst,  who  had 
done  good  service  for  about  three  years,  returned  to 
America,  leaving  Rev.  C.  Bischoff  the  only  laborer  we 
had  there.  Mr.  Bischoff  still  lived  in  Naila,  Bavaria,  and 
went  into  places  outside  of  Bavaria  that  were  close  to 
his  place  of  residence,  which  was  near  the  line. 

The  African  mission,  notwithstanding  war,  small-pox, 


110  HISTORY   OF   THE 

and  other  unfavorable  circumstances,  progressed  quite 
well.  Rev.  J.  Wolfe  was  sent  out  by  the  board  and 
reached  the  mission  in  December,  1875.  A  few  months 
afterward  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gomer,  having  completed  a 
term  of  five  years  and  a  half,  came  to  America,  reaching 
their  home  soon  after  the  board  met.  In  January, 
1876,  Mr.  Gomer  wrote  the  following  in  regard  to  the 
previous  year's  work :  "  At  the  beginning  of  the  year 
Satan  went  to  work  in  earnest,  putting  forth  every  effort 
in  his  power  to  hinder  the  progress  of  the  gospel  in  this 
field  of  labor.  He  selected  for  his  prime  agent,  John 
Caulker,  a  Mohammedan,  a  very  energetic  and  daring 
person.  Thanks  be  to  God  he  has  given  us  the  victory, 
John  Caulker  and  his  accomi3lices  are  in  Freetown  jail, 
and  all  their  efforts  to  put  out  the  fire  which  the  gospel 
has  kindled  have  only  acted  as  so  much  oil  thrown  into 
the  flames.  I  cannot  describe  to  you  the  effect  produced 
upon  the  minds  of  the  people  throughout  the  country 
by  the  capture  of  Caulker  and  his  war  party  b}'  the  gov- 
ernor of  Sierra  Leone.  We  missionaries  and  our  little 
band  of  converts  are  filled  with  joy  and  gladness,  not 
because  John  Caulker  is  in  jail,  but  because  God  is 
bringing  good  out  of  his  war.  A  number  of  slaves  have 
lost  their  masters,  and  three  masters,  who  are  professors 
of  religion,  have  lost  their  slaves.  Small-pox  has  been 
raging  for  two  months,  and  many  have  died.  As  soon 
as  they  are  taken  with  it  they  are  carried  into  the  bush 
or  to  a  farm  shed.  Many  come  from  neighboring  vil- 
lages to  attend  worship  at  Shaingay.  The  people  say, 
'God  done  take  the  country.'  I  have  received  ten  into 
the  church  here  during  the  quarter,  and  nine  others  into 
a  seekers'  class.  Two  of  our  members  died,  one  of  them 
very  happy." 

On  the  frontier  field  there  were  some  great  successes, 


UNITED   BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  Ill 

as  well  as  some  failures.  Owing  to  serious  difficulties  in 
the  Walla  Walla  Mission  Conference,  it  was  reduced  to 
a  mission  district  at  the  annual  meeting  of  1875.  These 
having  been  removed  and  the  prospects  being  better 
than  formerly,  the  board  rescinded  its  previous  action 
and  continued  it  a  conference.  In  California,  Colorado, 
Dakota,  and  Minnesota  good  progress  was  made,  and  in 
Nebraska  over  a  thousand  members  were  added  to  the 
Church,  which  was  an  extraordinary  growth  for  a  small 
conference.  The  success  in  Tennessee,  Southern  Illinois, 
Osage,  Oregon,  Fox  River,  and  Ontario  mission  confer- 
ences was  very  moderate,  and  in  the  Kentucky  mis- 
sion district  scarcely  anything  was  accomplished.  The 
Toledo,  Ohio,  and  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  German 
missions  also  had  very  little  growth.  The  freedmen's 
mission  in  Virginia  had  a  successful  year.  The  four 
conferences,  Parkersburg,  Missouri,  Kansas,  and  Wiscon- 
sin, Avhich  had  become  self-supporting  one  year  before, 
had  a  very  prosperous  j^ear.  Home  missions  had  also  a 
prosperous  3'ear,  gaining  fully  five  thousand  members. 

The  hventy-fourth  annual  meeting  of  the  board  was  held  in 
Vermillion,  Illinois,  May  8,  1877,' two  days  before  the 
General  Conference  met  near  the  same  place.  The  great 
national  centennial  of  1876  had  brought  many  people 
from  every  part  of  the  United  States,  who  necessarily 
paid  out  a  good  deal  of  money  in  visiting  Philadelphia. 
There  was  an  unusual  political  agitation  during  the  year 
also,  as  there  frequently  is  preceding  an  election  of  presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.  So  much  time  and  money 
were  given  to  these  things  as  to  draw  somewhat  from 
charitable  institutions.  The  finances  of  the  society  were 
well  maintained  in  comparison  to  other  similar  institu- 
tions in  the  countr}-.  The  secretary's  report  gave  the 
following  explanation : 


112  HISTORY   OF   THE 

"  But  for  the  fact  that  considerable  more  money  than 
usual  came  into  our  treasury  fur  the  current  contingent 
expenses  of  the  year  from  bequests  and  special  contribu- 
tions for  the  African  industrial  school,  and  even  our 
regular  work,  we,  as  well  as  many  other  mission  boards 
in  America,  would  have  to  report  quite  a  large  debt.  A 
small  debt  against  a  missionary  society  is  sometimes 
unavoidable ;  but  it  is  certainly  the  better  wa}'^  to  carry 
forward  mission  work  with  money  consecrated  to  this 
object  upon  the  j^art  of  the  donor  rather  than  by  money 
consecrated  to  gain  upon  the  part  of  the  money  lender. 
The  Bible  plan,  '  Let  every  one  of  you  lay  by  him  in 
store,  as  God  hath  prospered  him,'  is  the  way  to  obtain 
money  for  charitable  purposes.  The  practice  of  doing 
business  on  borrowed  capitcd  is  questionable ;  and  in  church 
matters,  especially  in  missionary  operations,  it  is  a  great  im- 
propriety, if  not  a  p>ositive  ivrong^ 

The  secretary  also  had  the  following  in  his  report: 
"  The  executive  committee  did  not  see  its  way  clear  to 
project  a  mission  among  the  Chinese  on  the  Pacific  coast 
during  the  year,  owing  mainly  to  a  lack  of  funds.  The 
following  extract  from  a  letter  written  by  Rev.  S.  V. 
Blakeslee,  of  Oakland,  California,  last  February,  and 
published  in  the  Chicago  Advance,  will  show  the  great 
need  of  such  a  mission.  He  says,  '  About  two  hundred 
and  forty  thousand  Chinese  have  come  to  this  country, 
of  whom  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  are  yet 
here,  the  others  having  gone  back,  or  died.  They  are 
already  so  numerous  as  to  establish  for  themselves  a 
complete  social,  moral,  and  commercial  support,  in  all 
their  own  customs,  moralities,  and  religion.  Of  the 
Avhole  number  who  have  come,  only  about  five  hundred 
have  renounced  heathenism.  Throughout  California, 
they  have  their  temples,  idols.  i)riests,  and  heathen  vices, 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  113 

and  are  degrading  our  morals,  distracting  our  politics, 
weakening  our  military  strength,  embarrassing  our 
schools,  rendering  difficult  the  work  of  our  churches, 
13re venting  white  immigration,  Avearing  out  our  lands, 
and  degrading  the  whole  class  of  manual  laborers.  Let 
us  see  to  it  that  the  result  may  not  prove  as  fearfully 
evil  and  destructive  as  slavery  did,  for  it  is  having  the 
same  effects  upon  Americans,  with  the  exception  that  it 
does  not  ignore  the  rights  of  the  laborer.'  A  mission 
might  be  commenced  in  connection  with  the  one  opened 
in  Sacramento  City  the  past  year." 

The  following  from  the  report  of  the  committee  to 
which  the  African,  German,  and  freedmen's  missions 
were  referred,  and  which  was  heartily  approved  by  this 
meeting,  will  indicate  all  that  is  necessary  to  state  here 
in  respect  to  these  missions : 

"Our  large,  important,  and  successful  mission  Avork 
in  Western  Africa,  with  favorable  openings  for  almost 
indefinite  enlargement,  places  us  under  the  strongest 
obligations  to  consecrate  ourselves  fully  to  the  Christian- 
ization  of  that  country.  The  Sherbro  country,  extend- 
ing for  miles  from  Shaingay,  should  be  occupied  by  us 
soon.  With  two  regular  mission  stations,  three  chapels 
for  day  and  Sunday-schools,  and  an  industrial  school 
but  lately  commenced,  a  large  number  of  missionaries 
and  native  helpers  must  be  kept  in  the  field,  and  the 
means  put  into  their  hands  to  enable  them  to  work 
advantageously.  .  Our  obligations  to  the  faithful  mis- 
sionaries we  have  there,  to  the  heathen,  and  to  the  Mas- 
ter, whose  command  is  to  '■  teach  all  nations,'  require  us 
to  employ  all  the  means  within  our  reach  to  prosecute 
that  work."  « 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gomer,  who  had  spent  almost  six  months 
in  America,  returned  to  Africa  during  the  year,  arriv- 


114 


1IIST()I;V    OF    THE 


/  ing  in  Decoinber,  1876,  accompanied  by  Misses  Bow- 
— ~j  man  and  Bcekman,  who  were  sent  l)y  the  exeentivo 
committee  to  teach  and  otherwise  assist  in  that  work. 
In  the  absence  of  Mr.  Gomer,  Rev.  J.  Wolfe  Avas  in 
charge  of  the  mission.  INIiss  Beekman  also  commenced 
a  night  school  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  conld  not 
attend  the  day  schools.  There  Avas  also  a  fourth  day 
school  to  be  opened  soon  after  this  meeting,  to  support 
which  Summit  Street  Sunday-school,  of  Dayton,  Ohio, 
pledged  one  hundred  dollars  annually,  Avhich  pledge  has 
been  faithfully  kept.  The  secretary  in  his  report,  the 
board  in  its  proceedings,  and  the  General  Conference 
also  recognized  the  valuable  services  of  the  Woman's 
Missionary  Association  in  establishing  a  school  in  Africa, 
and  commended  their  purj^ose  to  enlarge  their  Avork 
there,  in  connection  Avith  the  Avork  of  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions. Respecting  Germany,  it  adopted  the  folloAving: 
"  We  recommend  that  our  Avork  in  Germany  be  prose- 
cuted vigorously,  and  that  additional  help  be  employed, 
provided  the  civil  authorities  do  not  close  the  door 
against  us."  Rev.  C.  Bischoff,  who  Avas  the  only  mis- 
sionary there,  Avrote  that  he  preached  a  good  deal,  as  did 
also  some  of  the  quarterly  conference  preachers,  and  that 
he  had  seventy-three  members  who  had  left  the  state 
church. 

The  freedmen's  mission  in  Virginia  had  succeeded 
well  under  the  labors  of  the  two  brethren  employed. 
The  board  and  General  Conference  both  expressed  deep 
sympathy  in  behalf  of  this  Avork ;  but,  alas  i  on  account 
of  not  having  suitable  men  to  prosecute  it  after  Rev. 
Evans  returned  to.  Africa,  and  having  no  money  to  de- 
vote to  this  object,  little  has  been  done. 

The  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  and  Toledo,  Ohio, 
missions  made  satisfactory  progress  during  the  year,  and 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  115 

the  board  resolved  to  prosecute  them  vigorously.  The 
mission  in  Kentucky  had  average  success,  but  the  great 
poverty  of  that  country  and  want  of  liberality  upon  the 
part  of  those  living  there  who  could  do  something,  were 
discouraging  features.  In  the  following  mission  confer- 
ences there  was  prosperity,  viz :  California,  Colorado, 
Nebraska,  Osage,  Minnesota,  and  Tennessee.  In  several 
of  these  there  was  marked  progress  made  during  the 
year,  and  in  all  quite  a  good  deal  was  done  to  build 
up  the  Church.  In  Ontario,  Fox  River,  Dakota,  ^Yalla 
Walla,  Oregon,  and  Southern  Illinois,  the  work  did  not 
succeed  so  well.  Some  of  these  lost  heavily  by  emigra- 
tion, in  some  there  Avas  a  want  of  harmonious  effort, 
and  in  others  a  great  lack  of  laborers.  The  grasshopper 
scourge  and  failure  of  crops  kept  back  financial  progress, 
which  made  it  still  harder  to  work  successfully  in  some 
of  these  conferences.  Home  missions  had  a  large  share 
of  prosperity  during  the  year,  and  home  missionaries 
reported  nearly  five  thousand  conversions  and  accessions 
to  the  Church.  Here,  as  in  the  frontier  and  foreign  de- 
partments, the  more  the  success  the  greater  the  demand 
for  additional  laborers. 

The  secretary,  in  his  reports  both  to  the  board  and  to 
the  General  Conference,  emphasized  the  thought  that 
there  should  be  given  for  missions  an  annual  average  of 
one  dollar  to  the  member.  He  had  urged  this  in  the  Mis- 
sionary Visitor,  of  which  he  was  editor,  and  in  other 
Church  periodicals,  as  well  as  in  missionary  sermons 
and  addresses  which  he  delivered,  for  four  or  five  years, 
but  now  he  made  this  the  kej'-note  of  his  plea'  for  more 
money,  and  insisted  on  the  General  Conference  devising 
ways  and  means  by  which  so  reasonable  and  necessary 
an  object  might  be  secured  for  the  future.  The  follow- 
ing extract   taken    from    the   secretary's   report   to   the 


116  HISTORY   OF    THE 

General  Conference  is  suggestive :  "  Onr  foreign  mission 
work  has  taught  us  the  highest  form  of  benevolence. 
We  give  to  it,  expecting  no  return  save  that  which 
accrues  from  the  grateful  acknowledgment  of  the  saved 
heathen ;  yea,  without  so  much  as  hoping  to  see  those 
who  are  benefited  by  our  gifts  until  we  shall  meet  them 
before  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ  .  .  .  It  has  taught  us 
another  valuable  lesson,  namely,  that  it  is  safe  to  engage 
in  large  undertakings  for  God.  He  sometimes  leads 
churches  and  nations  into  places  where  they  arc  com- 
pelled to  undertake  and  accomplish  great  things,  or  be 
dishonored,  not  to  say  destroyed.  Had  Ave  known  in 
1861,  when  our  late  war  commenced,  what  a  task  it 
"would  be  to  crush  the  rebellion,  the  sacrifice  of  life, 
treasure,  and  happiness  that  would  be  required,  we 
would  have  despaired  of  ever  saving  our  country,  and 
perhaps  ceased  all  effort.  We  had  not  the  faintest  idea, 
then,  what  we  could  do  to  extricate  ourselves  from  the 
fearful  dilemma  into  which  we  had  fallen.  As  we  went 
deeper  and  deeper  into  it,  we  realized  more  and  more 
the  fact  that  we  had  to  get  out,  or  be  hopelessly  ruined. 
In  the  providence  of  God  we  commenced  a  mission  in 
Africa  over  twenty  years  ago,  which  was  then  for  us  no 
small  undertaking.  But  it  has  grown  and  continues  to 
grow,  so  that  it  needs  thrice  the  number  of  laborers  and 
five  times  the  amount  of  money  now  it  did  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  last  decade.  Why,  we  are  so  deej)  into  the 
work  there,  that  we  must  go  forward  or  be  disgraced  in 
the  eyes  of  God  and  men  forever.  The  heathen  there 
would  rise  up  in  judgment  and  condemn  us  if  we  did 
not." 

The  following  table  shows  the  amount  paid  out  for 
the  support  of  missions  during  the  four  years  ending 
May,  1877; 


UNITED   BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  117 

Africa §23,913  28 

Arkansas  Valley 249  88 

California  2,470  18 

Colorado 2,646  19 

East  Germtn 2,105  49 

Dakota 3,079  52 

Fox  River 1,866  00 

Germany 4,108  91 

Kansas 722  G9 

Kentucky 756  00 

Minnesota 2,850  88 

Missouri 982  74 

Nebraska 2,356  87 

Neosho,  or  Osage 2,830  00 

Ontario 1,446  00 

Ohio  German 1,251  12 

Oregon 1,812  57 

Parkersburg 1,149  92 

Southern  Illinois 2,482  56 

Tennessee ..  2,260  40 

Freedmen  in  Virginia 1,174  52 

Walla  Walla 1,785  43 

Wisconsin 804  48 

Total §61,605  63 

In  addition  to  these  sums  paid  by  the  mission  treas- 
ury, the  above  mission  fields  paid  their  missionaries 
$61,079.14.  Home  missionaries  received  from  their  fields 
of  labor  and  from  branch  treasurers  during  the  four 
years  ending  May,  1877,  the  sum  of  $249,116.27;  making 
a  grand  total  for  home,  frontier  and  foreign  missions, 
of  $374,801.04. 


118  HISTORY   OF   THE 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

From  1S77  to  1S81. 

Missionary  bishop  for  Pacific  Coast  —  Unjust  discrimination  against 
color  —  Missionary  quarterly — Wilberforce  and  wife  go  to  Africa  — 
Boys'  home  built  in  Africa — Persecution  in  Germany  —  Organiza- 
tion of  mission  districts  in  Africa  and  Germany  —  Prosperity  at 
home  and  abroad. 

The  hoard  met  in  its  twenty-fifth  annual  session  in  Harts- 
ville,  Indiana,  May  10,  1878.  The  General  Conference 
of  1877  had  again  elected  Bishop  J.  J.  Glossbrenner  pres- 
ident, and  Rev.  D.  K.  Flickinger  secretary,  but  chose 
Rev.  J.  K.  Billheimer  for  treasurer  instead  of  Rev.  J.  AV. 
Hott,  who  was  elected  editor  of  the  Telescope.  A  few 
new  members  of  the  board  had  also  been  chosen.  The 
General  Conference  also  elected  Rev.  N.  Castle  mission- 
ary bishop  of  the  Pacific  coast,  his  district  to  embrace 
California,  Oregon,  and  AValla  Walla  mission  confer- 
ences. Ex-bishop  Shuck  was  appointed  missionary  to 
California  soon  after,  who,  with  his  wife,  and  Bishop  and 
jNIrs.  Castle  had  gone  to  California  in  the  autumn  of  1877. 
The  three  conferences  had  a  reasonably  prosperous  year, 
and  the  outlook  fov  the  future  was  brightening.  The 
General  Conference  had  divided  the  Michigan  Confer- 
ence, continuing  the  old  name  to  that  which  was  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  State,  and  making  the  northern 
portion  a  mission  conference,  called  Saginaw.  This  new 
conference  had  a  prosperous  year,  as  had  also  Minnesota, 
Nebraska,  and  'Osage  conferences.  The  other  frontier 
mission  fields,  viz. :  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Southern 
Illinois,  Colorado,  Dakota,  Fox  River,  Ontario,  the  Ger- 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  119 

man  missions  in  Toledo,  Ohio,  and  Philadelphia,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  the  freedmen's  mission  in  Virginia  had  but 
limited  growth,  and  upon  some  not  only  was  little  prog- 
ress made,  but  the  outlook  for  the  future  was  not  very 
encouraging.  There  was  a  strong  jiressure  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  board  at  this  meeting  to  project  a  new 
German  mission  in  Minnesota,  but  the  financial  condi- 
tion of  the  treasury  would  not  admit  of  it.  Home  mis- 
sions had  success  in  some  of  the  conferences,  but  in 
others  little  was  done  in  this  department  of  work.  The 
year,  taken  as  a  whole,  was  not  very  successful,  either 
in  the  home  or  frontier  missions  of  the  Church.^ 

In  the  foreign  department  the  work  progressed  satis- 
factorily, as  the  following  action  of  the  board  at  this 
meeting    s"hows :    "We   are   thankful    to    our   heavenly 
Father  that  the  difficulties  connected  with  our  mission 
in  Africa  d^iring  the  past  year  have  mostly  passed  away, 
and  that  the  present  outlook  is  quite  hopeful,  provided  n 
we  soon  forward  reinforcements.      We  approve  of  Mr.  / 
Gomer's    purpose   to   open    two    additional    schools   in     / 
Africa,   and  we    earnestly  urge    Sunday-schools  in   this      i 
country  to  respond  to  the  call  for  money  needed  to  con-     / 
tinue  them."     The  board  also  approved  a  recommenda- 
tion to  send  D.  F.  Wilberforce,  who  had  aliout  finished 
his  course  of  studies  in  the  High  School  at  Dayton,  Ohio, 
to  Africa,  and  to  provide  other  necessary  assistance. 

The  mission  in  Germany  also  had  some  success  during 
the  year,  and  a  more  cordial  support  was  accorded  it 
upon  the  part  of  the  Church  at  home  than  formerly. 
Rev.  C.  Bischoff,  and  the  quarterly  conference  men  whom 
he  had  called  to  his  help,  were  all  the  workers  the 
society  had  in  that  country.  They  were  still  abridged 
in  their  li])erty,  and  as  a  matter  of  course  worked  under 
many  disadvantages. 


120  HISTORY    OF    THE 

The  society  had  for  years  done  something  for  church- 
erection,  but  so  little  the  past  year  that  the  secretary, 
in  his  report  to  the  board,  said,  "So  little  has  been 
accomi^lished  in  this  department  of  our  church  work, 
that  but  for  the  necessity  of  saying  something,  I  would 
most  gladly  pass  it  by.  There  have  been  about  fifty 
applications,  requiring  some  labor  and  expense  to  an- 
swer them,  and  only  four  hundred  and  seventy-nine 
dollars  and  ten  cents  collected  for  this  purpose.  We 
ought  to  do  more,  or  quit." 

The  secretary  of  the  board  had  corresponded  with 
Hon.  Carl  Schurz,  secretary  of  the  interior  department, 
Washington,  D.  C,  during  the  year,  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  recognition  b}-  the  United  States  Government 
for  our  church,  that  our  Board  of  Missions  might  be 
placed  on  a  par  with  other  mission  boards  in  recom- 
mending suitable  j^ersons  to  be  appointed  as  Indian 
agents.  While  other  denominations  smaller  than  ours 
and  doing  less  in  mission  work  than  our  church,  were 
upon  the  list,  a  number  of  our  people  felt  we  ought  to 
be  there  also.  The  honorable  secretary  treated  this  with 
great  indifference,  and  finally  wrote:  "The  Indian  agen- 
cies are  now  divided  between  the  various  denomina- 
tions, and  no  new  division  can  be  made  without  their 
consent.  Possibly  you  might  yourself,  by  correspon- 
dence, effect  a  transfer  of  some  agency  to  your  society." 
As  a  matter  of  course,  this  the  secretary  of  the  board 
never  did,  and  thus  the  matter  ended. 

The  twenty-sixth  annual  session  of  the  hoard  commenced 
in  Westerville,  Ohio,  May  9,  1879.  The  following  shows 
the  temper  of  the  board  in  respect  to  the  d-own-trodden 
and  its  willingness  to  help  them:  ^^ Resolved,  That  the 
unjust  discrimination  becoming  so  general  in  this  coun- 
try against  negroes,  Indians,  Chinese,  and  all  who  have 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  121 

mixed  blood,  is  criminal  before  God  and  a  shame  to  our 
Christian  civilization.  The  Chinese,  because  they  work 
for  fair  wages  and  do  not  patronize  the  venders  of  intox- 
icating drinks ;  the  Indians,  because  they  have  been 
forcibly  deprived  of  tlieir  lands,  and  on  account  of  being 
shamefully  cheated  and  outraged,  do  at  times  resent 
these  wrongs ;  and  the  Africans,  because  they  were  forci- 
bly reduced  to  diattels,  and  regained  their  God-given 
rights,  are  despised,  misused  and  cruelly  wronged.  We 
are  none  the  less  under  the  same  obligations  to  them 
as  we  are  to  others.  They  bear  the  image  of  God.  Christ 
died  for  them,  and  hence  they  have  claims  upon  our 
sympathy,  benevolence,  and  efforts  for  their  civiliza- 
tion." 

The  secretary  also  recommended  at  this  meeting  the 
publication  of  a  missionary  quarterly,  through  which 
raluable  missionary  intelligence  might  be  put  into  per- 
manent form.  He  had  in  former  reports  suggested  the 
publication  of  tracts  to  be  read  by  pastors  to  their  people, 
and  a  plan  to  receive  their  missionary  money  in  weekly, 
monthly,  or  quarterly  installments,  instead  of  only  onoe 
during  the  year.  He  urged  that  many  would  give  ten 
cents  a  week  who  could  not,  or  Avould  not,  give  at  one 
time  five  dollars.  He  quoted  the  following  to  show  that 
the  organ  of  the  board  was  doing  good  service :  "  No  one 
of  our  periodicals  has  done  or  could  do  as  much  to  cul- 
tivate a  disposition  to  sustain  the  institutions  of  the 
Church  as  the  Missionary  Visitor.^'  It  had  now  a  circu- 
lation of  nearly  forty  thousand. 

In  June,  1878,  Daniel  Flickinger  Wilberforce  grad- 
uated from  the  Dayton  High  School.  The  following 
August  he  became  a  member  of  Miami  Conference,  was 
ordained,  and  in  October  he  married  Miss  E.  Harris. 
They  sailed  for  Africa  the  nexth  month,  reaching  Shain- 


122  HISTORY    OF   THE 

gay  the  24th  of  December,  and  on  tlie  following  day  tliey 
spent  a  happy  Cliristmas  witli  their  new  friends. 

During  the  year  the  boys'  home,  a  building  thirty  by 
seventy-five  feet  had  been  completed,  and  shops  were 
built  for  the  industrial  school.  There  Avere  fourteen 
boys  and  five  girls  in  this  school,  the  girls  lodging 
•with  the  missionaries  and  the  boys-  in  the  house  built 
for  them.  This  school  had  done  well.  The  farm  had 
produced  arrowroot,  corn,  cocoa,  cassava,  yams,  sweet 
y.  potatoes,  ginger,  and  other  edibles  to  the  value  of  one 

/   hundred  and  fifty  dollars.     Mr.  Gomer  wrote  that  they 
had  five  day  and  Sunday-schools,  and  were  doing  well. 

I   During  the  year  Mr.  Gomer  visited  Liberia,  in  reference 

/    to  Avhicli  he  wrote  to  the  board  about  two  months  be- 

./     fore  it  met:    "I   have  just  returned  from   Liberia.      I 

hired  a  farmer,  bought  three  hundred  coffee-plants  and 

two  bushels  of  coffee-seed."      The  executive  committee 

I    directed  that  Mr.  Gomer  should  superintend  the  indus- 
trial school  and  the  general  work,  and  Mr.  Wilberforce 
,  take  charge  of  the  day  schools  and  book-kee2:)ing,  Mrs. 
/  Gomer  be  house-keeper,  and  Mrs.  Wilberforce  teach  the 
girls  to  sew,  and  all  to  be  active  in  conducting  the  relig- 
ious services  of  the  mission. 

The  mission  in  Germany  gained  a  native  missionar}^ 
this  year  in  the  person  of  Rev.  G.  Noetzold,  who  came 
to  us  from  another  chwch.  He  and  Rev.  C  hristiar. 
Bischoff  devoted  their  time  to  itinerating.  Other  (quar- 
terly conference  preachers,  some  of  whom  had  been 
raised  up  during  the  year,  also  preached  more  or  less. 
Opposition,  coming  from  various  sources,  still  had  to  be 
endured.  At  one  place  a  party  of  men  came  to  where  a 
meeting  was  in  progress,  forcibly  broke  down  the  door 
and  laid  violent  hands  on  a  coui)le  of  our  members, 
who    they   supposed   were    missionaries,    but    the    two 


UNITED    BRETJIKEN    iMLSSlOXS.  i23 

they  were  after  Avere  not  present  at  the  time.  Notwith- 
standing all  this,  the  Avork  went  forward  very  well.  Mr. 
Bischoff  arranged  five  different  missions  and  employed 
four  of  the  quarterly  conference  men  he  had  received, 
who,  with  himself,  supplied  them  at  a  cost  of  one  thou- 
sand dollars  furnished  by  the  board. 

In  the  frontier  field  oue  new  mission  conference  was 
organized  during  the  year,  called  West  Nebraska.  This, 
with  East  Nebraska,  Osage,  Colorado,  California,  Dakota, 
Minnesota,  and  Saginaw  had  a  good  degree  of  prosperity. 
In  Tennessee,  Southern  Illinois,  Fox  River,  Ontario, 
Walla  Walla,  and  Oregon  mission  conferences  the  suc- 
cess was  not  great,  owing  largely  to  a  lack  of  efficient 
laborers,  and  there  was  but  moderate  success  in  the 
mission  district  in  Kentucky,  among  the  freedmen  in 
Virginia,  and  in  Toledo,  Ohio,  during  the  year.  Phila- 
del^jhia  mission  was  divided,  that  part  lying  in  Camden, 
New  Jersey,  being  taken  from  it  and  made  a  separate 
mission,  Avith  some  prospects  of  growth.  Home  mis- 
sions were  more  successful  than  the  year  before,  and 
upon  some  rapid  progress  was  made ;  and  not  the  least 
to  be  mentioned  is  the  fact  that  the  Church  was  becom- 
ing more  and  more  interested  in  the  great  work  of  the 
salvation  of  the  destitute,  both  in  heathen  and  in  Chris- 
tian lands.  During  the  year  the  society  made  grants 
from  the  funds  contributed  to  the  Church-Erection  So- 
ciety to  three  churches  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  houses 
of  Avorship,  which  shows  it  still  had  some  life  in  it. 

The  hoard  met  for  its  twenty-seventh  annual  session  in  Fos- 
toria,  Ohio,  May  6,  1880.  In  October,  1879,  the  secretary, 
at  the  request  of  both  the  missionaries  in  Germany  and 
Africa,  and  of  the  executive  committee,  took  his  depart- 
ure from  the  United  States  to  spend  the  balance  of  the 
mission    year   Avith   the   missionaries  in   these    foreign 


124  HISTORY   OF    THE 

fields.  On  his  return  home  he  arrived  in  New  Yorlc  C'itv 
the  day  the  board  met,  liaving  l)een  aV^sent  for  seven 
montlis.  The  treasurer 'of  the  society  had  performed  the 
secretary's  duties  during  his  absence,  and  in  his  report 
to  the  board  submitted  the  following  from  the  secretary 
in  respect  to  Germany  : 

"Having  decided  to  organize  the  mission  into  a  mis- 
sion district,  we  called  the  missionaries  to  Lobenstien, 
December  10,  1879,  for  that  purpose.  The  following  mis- 
sionaries were  admitted :  Revs.  C.  Bischoff,  G.  Noetzold, 
F.  Holeshuer,  H.  Oelschlagel,  G.  Gottschalk,  and  PI. 
Barkemeyer.  There  were  rej^orted  thirty-four  preaching 
places,  eleven  organized  classes,  and  two  hundred  and 
thirty-five  members.  Five  missionaries  were  employed 
last  3'ear,  and  one  was  added  at  this  meeting.'' 

The  work  in  this  field  was  taking  permanent  root,  not- 
withstanding the  opposition  and  the  want  of  liberty  to 
w^ork  in  a  number  of  places.  The  board  failing  to  send 
men  from  America,  Mr.  BischofT,  who  was  in  charge, 
induced  them  to  enlist  in  the  work  here.  Some  of  these 
were  obtained  from  other  denominations  and  soon  left 
us,  but  still  the  Avork  was  permanently  planted  there, 
and  as  cheaply  as  it  would  have  been  had  the  laborers 
come  from  the  United  States.  Mr.  Bischoff  was  deter- 
mined to  succeed,  and  saw  little  prospect  to  do  it  in  any 
other  way. 

The  secretary,  after  spending  six  weeks  among  the 
missionaries  in  Germany,  visiting  all  of  the  principal 
points  at  which  they  preached,  started  for  Africa  imme- 
diately after  the  organization  at  Lobenstien,  and  spent 
three  months  there.  While  in  Africa  he  also  visited  all 
the  preaching  places,  and  in  the  month  of  March,  1880, 
organized  that  mission  into  a  mission  district,  having 
also  six  ministers,  viz. :    Revs.  J.  Gomer,  D.  F.  Wilber- 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  125 

force,  J.  C.  Sawyer,  J.  P.  Hero,  J.  W.  Pratt,  and  B.  W. 
Johnson.  The  last  named  was  laboring  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Woman's  Missionary  Association,  the  otli^r 
five  under  the  direction  of  the  Board  of  Missions.  At 
Shaingay,  at  which  place  this  meeting  occurred,  there 
was  much  interest  awakened  among  the  people.  All 
the  teachers  and  missionaries  of  both  of  our  societies 
operating  in  Africa  were  present  from  Saturday  until 
Monday,  and  it  was  a  time  of  great  rejoicing.  Mrs.  Mair, 
who  was  in  charge  of  the  women's  work  at  Rotufunk 
at  the  time,  was  also  present,  and  took  an  active  and 
earnest  part  in  the  proceedings.  The  organization  of 
mission  districts,  both  in  Africa  and  Germany,  gave  a 
new  impetus  to  these  mission  fields,  and  greatly  encour- 
aged the  Church  at  home.  The  writer  will  never  forget 
his  feelings  and  impressions  as  he  saw  the  work  taking 
form  in  so  substantial  a  manner. 

The  German  missions  in  America  in  and  near  Phila- 
delphia, Pennsylvania,  and  in  Toledo,  Ohio,  had  consid- 
erable prosperity  during  the  year,  and  the  freedmen's 
mission  in  Virginia  did  as  well  as  could  be  expected 
with  but  one  laborer  in  the  field.  Kentucky  mission 
district  had  a  prosperous  year,  gaining  one  hundred  and 
seventy-six  members,  and  building  two  new  meeting- 
houses. As  usual,  it  raised  but  little  money  for  any 
general  interest  of  the  Church. 

The  mission  conferences,  now  fourteen  in  number, 
viz. :  Tennessee,  Southern  Illinois,  Osage,  West  Kansas, 
Colorado,  California,  Oregon,  Walla  Walla,  West  and 
East  Nebraska,  Dakota,  Minnesota,  Fox  River,  and  Sagi- 
naw all  had  some  prosperity,  a  portion  of  them  a  good 
deal,  and  a  few  of  them  had  but  little ;  yet  substantial 
progress  was  made  in  this  department  of  mission  work. 
In  the  home  department  the  work  progressed  well  gener- 


/ 


126  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ally.  Quite  a  number  of  the  conferences  had  incurred 
a  debt  in  their  zeal  to  prosecute  this  work,  and  were 
making  a  determined  effort  to  liquidate  the  same.  To 
do  tliis  an  extra  collection  was  taken  in  many  places, 
which  decreased  the  sums  collected  for  general  distri- 
bution, and  indirectly  kept  some  money  from  the  jjarent 
treasury.  This  also  caused  some  home  missions  to  be 
abandoned,  and  kept  other  new  ones  from  being  formed, 
which  otherwise  would  have  been  done. 

The  Church-Erection  Society  did  good  work  this  year. 
The  treasurer  of  the  society  put  forth  special  efforts  in 
urging  its  claims,  which  brought  more  than  twice  the 
amount  of  money  into  his  hands  he  ever  received  in  one 
year  before.  In  all,  forty  churches  had  been  helped ; 
none  to  large  sums,  but  enough  to  stimulate  them  to 
erect  houses  of  worsTiip  since  the  organization  of  the 
society  in  1869.  This  society  being  under  the  direction 
of  the  managers  of  the  missionary  society,  and  having 
the  same  officers,  received  less  attention  because  the 
want  for  missionary  money  was  so  great. 

The  twenty-eighth  annual  meeting  of  the  hoard  occurred 
May  11,  1881,  in  Lisbon,  Iowa,  the  same  place  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  met  the  next  day. 

In  Africa,  where  we  had  less  than  three  hundred  seek- 
ers and  church  members,  there  was  much  done  during 
the  year.  Mr.  Gomer  wrote,  just  before  this  meeting: 
"Five  new  members  have  been  received  into  the  church 
at  Shaingay.  The  Sabbath  is  well  observed  here  and 
elsewhere,  where  our  schools  are  located,  and  in  other 
villages.  To  compare  ten  years  ago  with  the  present, 
it  does  not  seem  like  the  same  place.  Then,  every 
farm  had  its  medicine,  and  every  hut  its  devil-house,  or 
sabe- house.  The  latter  is  where  the  spirits  of  the  old 
people  are  supposed  to  dwell.     Now,  there  are  many  vik 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  127 

lages  where  none  of  these  things  are  seen.  The  future 
of  this  country  hioks  hopeful."  The  missionaries,  be- 
sides keeping  up  four  day  and  Svinday-schools,  did  a 
good  deal  of  itinerating  into  neighboring  towns,  preacli- 
ing  the  gospeL  This,  with  the  weekly  meetings  for 
prayer  and  Bible  study,  and  training  of  native  converts 
for  teachers  and  preachers,  with  the  blessing  of  God, 
promised  future  success.  The  business  affairs  of  a  mis- 
sion among  the  heathen  —  such  as  building  mission 
residences,  chapels  and  school-houses,  procuring  shops, 
managing  farms  and  erecting  boats  to  travel  in  —  is  a 
heavy  tax  upon  the  time  and  energy  of  missionaries. 

Of  the  German  mission  district,  the  secretary's  report 
stated:  "Though  Germany  is  the  land  of  schools  and 
learned  men,  there  is  great  need  of  just  such  missionary 
labor  as  we  were  doing  there.  The  people  are  heavily 
taxed  to  support  their  civil  and  military  institutions. 
It  is  by  practising  the  most  rigid  economy  that  the  poor 
can  make  both  ends  meet,  owing  to  the  small  price  paid 
for  labor.  To  be  required,  under  these  circumstances, 
to  pay  for  building  state  churches,  pay  pastors,  organ- 
ists, and  even  the  choirs  for  furnishing  music,  has  given 
them  such  a  disgust  for  their  institutions,  especially 
their  religious  services,  that  the  majority  of  people  at- 
tend church  only  on  funeral  or  extraordinary  occasions. 
The  religious  services  there,  with  slight  exceptions,  are 
a  cold,  formal,  unsatisfactory  exercise,  furnishing  but 
little  food  for  mind  or  soul.  The  pastors  are  not  unfre- 
quently  in  the  beer-houses  indulging  in  drink  with  the 
t)eople  through  the  week,  and  when  Sunday  comes  most 
Vf  the  people  return  to  these  places  of  resort,  leaving 
the  pastors  to  preach  to  empty  pews.  In  many  villages 
there  are  no  religious  services.  That  country  needs  and 
deserves  our  help  to  reform  its  drinking  habits  and  dese- 


128  HISTORY   OF    THE 

cration  of  the  Lord's  day,  and  to  teach  its  people  experi- 
mental godliness.  As  a  Church  we  are  repaying  a  just 
debt  Germany  has  upon  us  for  giving  us  the  great  and 
good  Otterbein,  our  founder.  We  have  at  this  time 
nine  missions,  Avith  two  hundred  and  ninety-seven 
members,  and  nine  Sunday-schools  with  two  hundred 
and  ninety  children  in  them.  Poor  as  our  people  are, 
they  paid  in  the  last  year  for  all  Church  purposes,  three 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  in  this  district." 

The  freedmen's  mission  in  Virginia,  German  missions 
in  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  and  Toledo,  Ohio,  barely 
held  their  own,  and  Kentucky  mission  district  did  no 
better.  In  the  Saginaw,  Minnesota,  Dakota,  Colorado, 
East  and  West  Nebraska,  West  Kansas,  Osage  and 
Tennessee  mission  conferences  there  was  something 
done  in  building  meeting-houses,  and  increasing  the 
number  of  Sunday-schools  and  members  of  the  Church. 
In  some  there  was  a  good  deal  of  revival  power,  but  the 
winter  had  been  cold  and  stormy,  and  in  the  West  and 
Northwest  meetings  could  not  be  held  sometimes  on 
this  account.  Fox  River  and  Southern  Illinois  confer- 
ences, as  was  too  often  the  case  with  them,  made  but 
little  progress  during  the  year.  The  Pacific  coast  con- 
ferences had  a  good  year  in  the  main.  Woodbridge 
Seminary  (now  a  college),  in  California;  Philomath 
College,  in  Oregon,  and  Huntsville  Seminar}'-,  in  Walla 
Walla  Conference,  being  yet  quite  young,  esjjecially  the 
two  seminaries,  were  prospering. 

Home  missions  made  commendable  success,  and  owing 
to  the  large  emigration  from  the  old  country,  there  was 
a  growing  sentiment  in  the  C>hurch  that  more  attention 
should  be  given  to  those  cities  and  places  in  which  so 
many  persons  coming  to  the  United  States  were  settling. 
There  were  at  this  time  three  hundred  and  seventy-four 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  129 

missionaries  employed  in  the  three  departments  of  labor, 
the  largest  number  of  whom  were  upon  home  missions, 
and  less  than  twenty  in  the  foreign  fields. 

Among  the  indirect  or  secondary  good  results  of  mis- 
sion work  in  the  United  States,  may  be  mentioned  the 
organization  of  many  new  Sunday-schools,  and  the  rapid 
increase  of  Sunday-school  periodicals  and  lesson-helps 
sold  to  these  from  our  publishing  house.  The  educa- 
tional work  was  also  much  helped  thereby,  as  the  three 
institutions  on  the  Pacific  coast  and  the  other  three 
found  in  Kansas,  Nebraska,  and  Missouri  are  the  out- 
growth of  the  missions  carried  on  by  the  Church  in 
these  places.  From  the  organization  of  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions in  May,  1853,  to  this  time,  just  twenty-eight  years,  there 
had  been  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifteen  thousand  mem- 
bers received  into  the  Church  through  the  labors  of  our  mis- 
sionaries alone.  The  average  cost  of  a  member  was  not 
to  exceed  ten  dollars,  and  as  nearly  as  figures  can  show 
the  results,  for  every  fifteen  dollars  of  missionary  money 
expended,  one  soul  was  led  to  accept  Christ  as  a  Sa- 
vior. That  the  smiles  of  Jehovah  were  upon  this  work, 
leading  the  Church  to  victory  and  greater  success  in  all 
its  undertakings,  is  evident. 

Building  up  missions  among  the  Germans,  both  in 
Germany  and  in  the  United  States,  is  quite  slow  work ; 
and  carrying  forward  mission  work  in  Western  Africa 
among  the  most  degraded  heathefi  to  be  found,  who 
are  without  a  written  language,  and  where  cannibalism, 
slavery,  witchcraft,  purrowism,  and  pol3'gamy  are  seen 
in  their  most  horrible  aspects,  and  where  the  super- 
stitions of  the  people  enter  into  everything  they  do, 
is  also  a  very  slow  and  difficult  Avork.  But  God  is 
giving  success  to  his  gospel  in  both  these  mission  fields. 


130 


IIISTOHY    OF    THE 


The  following  table  shows  the  amount  paid  out  in  the 
four  years  ending  May,  1881  ; 

Africa ^26,718  41 

California 3,409  25 

Colorado 2,257  92 

East  German 2,150  GO 

Dakota 2,329  71 

Fox  River 1,789  55 

Germany 4,616  35 

Kentucky 1,339  58 

Minnesota 2,713  9S 

East  Nebraska 2,443  13 

Neosho  (or  Osage) 2,469  36 

North  Michigan 1,672  12 

Ontario 783  30 

Ohio  German 1,C62  51 

Oregon 2,076  55 

Southern  Illinois 2,296  56 

Tennessee 3,236  84 

Freedmen  in  Virginia 1,236  64 

Walla  Walla,  Washington  Territory 2,375  67 

West  Kansas 943  66 

West  Nebraska 1,800  00 

Total $69,921  09 

Amount  paid  by  these  fields  to  their  missionaries,  as 
salary,  $73,882.41.  Paid  to  home  missionaries,  from  all 
sources,  during  the  four  years-ending  May,  1881,  the  sum 
of  $245,720.00;  making  a  grand  total  paid  to  home,  fron- 
tier and  foreign  missions,  of  $389,523.50. 


^^llll'lfl  •?'■         ^"Mi'     l|l 


UNITED   BKETIIUEX    MISSIONS.  131 


CHAPTER   XV. 

From  iSSi  to  1S05. 

Commencing  new  mission  stations  in  Africa  —  Rev.  Gomer  and  wife 
come  home,  and  then  return  to  Africa — Transfer  of  Mendi  mission 
to  the  United  Brethren  Board  of  INIissions,  with  money  necessary  to 
sustain  it — Freedmen's  Missions  Aid  Association  of  London — Papers 
published  in  Africa  and  Germany  —  Chinese  on  the  Pacific  coast — 
Rapid  growth  in  all  the  departments  of  work. 

The  tivcnty-nintli  annual  meeting  of  the  hoard  took  place 
in  Lebanon,  Pennsylvania,  May  26,  1882.  The  General 
Conference  of  1881  had  made  no  change  in  the  officers 
of  the  hoard,  but  had  added  some  new  members  to  it, 
enlarging  it  to  fourteen,  instead  of  twelve  as  at  first. 

Owing  to  important  matters  to  be  looked  after  in 
Africa,  the  secretary  was  requested  by  the  executive 
committee  to  visit  that  country  again,  which  he  did, 
going  in  a  sail  vessel.  Pie  left  New  York  the  1st  of 
December,  1881,  and  returned  the  day  before  the  board 
convened.  Rev.  J.  Gomer  and  wife,  having  completed 
their  second  term  of  five  years  in  Africa,  accompanied 
him  to  America,  all  three  attending  this  meeting  of  the 
board  before  proceeding  to  their  homes  in  Ohio. 

The  year  had  been  a  prosperous  one  in  Africa,  espe- 
cially in  enlarging  the  work.  The  chief  of  the  Sherbro 
country,  Mr.  George  Caulker,  had  died  about  five  months 
before  the  secretary  visited  Africa,  and  his  brother, 
T.  N.  Caulker,  became  his  successor.  The  new  chief  was 
more  friendly  to  the  mission  than  his  brother  had 
been,  so  that  the  secretary'  and  the  missionaries  boldly 
launched  out  to  obtain  new  sites  for  permanent  mission 
stations,  and  succeeded  in  securing  the  following  sites, 


^ 


132  m.sTOUY  OF  Till-: 

each  containing  a  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land : 
At  Rembee,  about  twenty  miles  from  Shaingay,  in  a 
northeasterly  direction ;  at  Mambo,  fifteen  miles  south 
of  Piembec;  at  Mo-Fuss,  fifteen  miles  east  of  Mambo; 
at  Tongkoloh,  twenty  miles  south  of  Mo-Fuss ;  and  at 
Koolong,  about  eighteen  miles  northwest  of  Tongko- 
loh, and  but  fourteen  miles  south  of  Shaingay.  This 
circle  of  mission  stations,  extending  interior  from  ten 
to  twenty  miles,  and  about  one  hundred  miles  around, 
embraced  over  one  hundred  towns.  At  each  station 
there  was  a  resident  missionary,  and  day  and  Sunday- 
schools;  and  from  these  central  stations  many  other 
towns  are  easily  visited  by  the  resident  missionaries  and 
their  helpers,  for  the  purpose  of  preaching  the  gospel. 
One  object  for  which  land  was  obtained,  Avas  to, teach 
the  mission  boys  how  to  cultivate  it  properly,  and  train 
them,  as  well  as  the  girls,  to  habits  of  industry,  and  thus 
become  helpers  in  the  work  of  enlightening  the  people. 
It  was  also  a  consideration  to  have  this  land,  which  cost 
but  little,  to  settle  converts  upon,  in  lots  of  from  five  to 
ten  acres,  and  thus  keep  them  under  Christian  influence, 
and  so  far  as  possible,  from  heathen  practices.  It  is  an 
important  part  of  mission  work  in  Africa  to  teach  the 
people  how  to  farm,  how  to  build  and  live  in  houses, 
how  to  raise,  cook,  and  eat  food,  how  to  make  and  wear 
clothes,  how  to  take  care  of  their  bodies  as  well  as  their 
souls, —  in  short,  how  to  make  an  honorable,  honest 
living,  how  to  care  for  themselves,  and  how  to  act  toward 
each  other  as  well  as  toward  the  Lord.  To  be  civilized 
and  Christianized,  they  must  be  helped  out  of  the  small, 
dirty,  cheerless  mud  huts  in  which  they  live;  clothes 
must  be  put  upon  their  naked  bodies;  they  must  eat 
their  food  from  tables,  instead  of  sitting  on  the  ground 
and  taking  it  with  their  hands  out  of  the  same  vessel  in 


UNITED    BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  133 

whicli  it  is  cooked;  and  they  must  sleep  upon  some 
kind  of  decent  beds,  instead  of  upon  mats  on  the  ground, 
as  the  majority  now  do.  To  do  this,  profitable  employ- 
ment must  be  given  them.  Hence  the  necessity  of 
teaching  boys  and  girls  how  to  work.  The  people  there 
love  to  live  in  good  style,  and  acquire  property,  and 
about  as  large  a  proportion  of  them  succeed  in  amassing 
wealth  as  do  white  people  under  no  more  favorable  cir- 
cumstances. Our  forefathers  were  once  as  degraded  as 
these  people  in  Africa,  selling  their  wives  and  children 
as  slaves,  and  doing  things  as  barbarous  and  inhuman  as 
many  things  so  revolting  to  our  feelings  now  done  in 
that  country. 

The  year  had  been  a  very  good  one  in  Germany  also. 
The  executive  committee  had  sent  the  editor  of  the 
German  paper.  Rev.  Wm.  Mittendorf,  to  visit  the  mis- 
sion and  hold  the  annual  meeting.  He  examined  into 
affairs  closely  and  made  a  favorable  report.  His  travel- 
ing expenses  were  paid  by  the  missionary  treasurer,  l)ut 
nothing  was  allowed  for  his  time.  Nine  regular  mis- 
sionaries were  employed,  who  received  an  average  salary 
of  two  hundred  dollars,  the  board  at  this  meeting  in- 
creasing its  appropriations  to  Germany  from  sixteen 
hundred  and  fifty  to  two  thousand  dollars. 

The  following  frontier  mission  conferences  were,  in 
the  main,  prosperous :  Walla  Walla,  Oregon,  California, 
Tennessee,  West  and  East  Nebraska,  Dakota,  Minnesota, 
West  Kansas,  and  North  Michigan,  more  especially  the 
last  two  mentioned.  Osage  Conference  was  made  self- 
supporting  by  the  General  Conference  of  1881,  and  a  new 
conference,  embracing  some  of  its  territory,  and  known 
as  Arkansas  Valley  Mission  Conference,  was  formed. 
This  conference  did  well  during  the  year.  The  Fox 
River  and  Southern  Illinois  conferences,  Kentucky  dis- 


Id4  HISTORY   OF    THE 

trict,  and  freedmen's  mission  in  Virginia,  as  well  as  the 
German  missions  in  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  and 
Toledo,  Ohio,  had  but  little  success,  though  the  out- 
look for  the  future  was  improving  in  the  last  named. 
In  Colorado  there  was  serious  trouble,  resulting  in  the 
n-ithdrawal  of  some  of  our  missionaries  from  the  Church, 
which  somewhat  militated  against  the  work  there.  In 
Denver  City,  however,  the  Church  gained  valuable  prop- 
erty', mostly  donated  by  Mr.  J.  W.  Smith,  who,  though 
not  a  member,  was  a  warm  friend  of  the  Church,  and 
gave  this  year  about  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  The  out- 
look was  quite  hopeful  in  this  department,  with  the 
slight  exceptions  named. 

The  home  missions,  in  the  thirty-one  self-supporting 
conferences,  had  a  good  year,  numbering  two  hundred 
and  fourteen  ministers,  with  fifteen  thousand,  five  hun- 
dred and  thirty-two  members,  three  thousand,  five  hun- 
dred and  sixty-three  of  whom  were  received  during  the 
year.  The  amount  of  missionary  money  paid  to  these 
conferences  from  the  branch  treasurers  was  over  twenty 
thousand  dollars.  The  Missionary  Visitor  had  reached  a 
circulation  of  about  forty-five  thousand,  which  was  most 
gratifying.  Church-erection  was  also  making  commend- 
able progress  in  comparison  with  the  little  it  had  gained 
in  previous  years,  and  most  of  the  work  of  the  board 
was  progressing  satisfactorily. 

The  thirtieth  annual  session  of  the  board  occurred  in  Dub- 
lin, Indiana,  May  31,  1883.  The  most  important  year's 
work  in  the  history  of  the  society  had  just  closed.  Rev. 
J.  Gomer  and  wife  had  returned  to  their  work  in  Africa 
early  in  November,  1882.  Only  a  short  time  before,  the 
secretary  obtained  information  that  the  American  Mis- 
sionary Association  was  about  to  transfer  Mendi  mission 
to  the  American  Board,   in  exchange  for  one  or  more 


UNITED    BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  135 

Indian  missions.     Mencli  mission  being  contiguous  to 
Sherbro  mission  on  the  soutli,  and  in  siw^cessful  ojjera- 
tion  before  ours  was  commenced,  and  the  two  having 
co-operated  and  been  on  terms  of  friendship  from  the 
beginning,  very  naturally  caused  ^Ir.  Flickinger  to  be 
deeply  interested  in  this  change.     This  caused  him  to 
write  to  Dr.  Strieby,  the  secretary  of  the  American  Mis- 
sionary Association,  that  he  hoped  Mendi  mission  would 
be  properly  cared  for,  giving  it  as  his  opinion  that  if  it 
had  such  supervision  as  Sherbro  mission  received  under 
Rev.  J.  Gomer,  with  no  more  money  than  had  been  sent 
it,  success  would  be  the  result.    Mendi  mission  had  been 
badly  managed  by  those  in  cliarge  in  Africa,  and  for 
some  years  but  little  good  was  etlected.     Late  in  Novem- 
ber, the  secretary  of  the  American  Missionary  Associa- 
tion wrote  to  our  secretary  to  ask  if  the  United  Brethren 
Church  would  take  control  of  Mendi  mission  and  keep 
it  going  for  five  years  on  the  avails  of  the  Avery  fund, 
which    amounted   to    five    thousand    dollars    annually;' 
also,   whether  it  would   accept   eight    thousand    dollars 
Avhich    had    been    collected   by  Sunday-schools   for   the 
special  purpose  of  building  a  small  steamer  for  Africa, 
to  be  called  the  John  Brown,   and   take  charge  of  the 
building  and  running  of  said  steamer.    As  the  headquar- 
ters of  Mendi  mission  are  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
south  of  Freetown,  and   sixty  miles   south  of  Sherbro 
mission,  the  missionaries  were  comi)el]ed  to  go  occasion- 
ally to  Freetown,  the  port  at  which  those  from  abroad 
debarked   and  embarked,   and  where  supplies  of  every 
description    and   the  mails  were  received,  it  was  very 
desirable  t<.)  have  a  more  convenient  way  to  go  to  and 
from  Freetown,  as  well  as  from  Bonthe  to  Shaingay,  the 
headquarters  of  these  two  missions.     After  further  cor- 
respondence, the  terms  of  transfer  between  the  executive 


y 


136  HISTORY   OF    THE 

committees  of  the  three  missionary  boards  were  agreed 
to  about  the  1st  of  December,  1882,  one  of  the  condi- 
tions being  that  the  secretary  of  the  United  Brethren 
board  should  go  to  England  for  the  purpose  of  contract- 
ing for  the  building  of  the  steamer  John  Broitm,  and 
then  proceed  to  Africa  and  attend  to  the  details  of  the 
transfer  of  Mendi  mission  to  our  society.  He  was  also 
to  look  after  the  needs  of  Sherbro  mission,  hold  the  an- 
nual district  meeting  there,  and  returning  by  way  of 
Germany,  hold  the  annual  district  meeting  there  in  the 
sjDring  of  1883,  and  reach  the  United  States  in  time  to 
attend  the  annual  meeting  of  the  board.  This  he  suc- 
ceeded in  accomplishing. 

This  trip  to  Africa,  undertaken  but  six  months  after 
he  had  returned,  had  more  responsibility  and  peril  con- 
nected with  it  than  any  of  the  six  previous  voyages 
which  the  secretary  had  made  to  that  country.  He  em- 
barked, December  9th,  on  the  "City  of  Berlin,"  which 
Tost  its- rudder  in  a  fearful  gale,  at  midnight,  on  the  11th, 
when  about  one  thousand  miles  from  New  York.  After 
floating  about  at  the  mercy  of  the  waves  for  forty-eight 
hours,  it  was  overtaken  by  the  "City  of  Chester,"  another 
steamer  of  the  same  line,  and  towed  back  to  New  York 
City,  reaching  that  port  Decemljer  21st.  On  the  23d  he 
again  took  passage,  on  the  "City  of  Chester,"  for  Liver- 
pool, and  had  a  good  voyage  there  and  on  to  Africa. 

The  first  work  of  the  secretary  after  reaching  the  mis- 
sion was  to  visit  Good  Hope  and  Avery  mission  stations, 
the  two  places  then  mostly  composing  Mendi  mission, 
and  take  an  inventory  of  all  he  found.  Good  mission 
residences,  chapels,  and  school-houses  were  at  both  places. 
At  Avery,  there  was  also  a  saw-mill,  a  coffee-farm  of  one 
thousand,  five  hundred  bearing  trees,  and  quite  a  lot  of 
lumber   and   logs,  Avhich   with    the   five   rowboats    and 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  137 

household  furniture  at  both  places  were  considered 
worth  two  thousand  dollars.  As  this  with  the  Avery 
fund  of  five  thousand  dollars  would  not  all  be  needed 
for  the  two  stations,  a  new  one  was  commenced  at 
Mancloh,  which  is  about  thirty-five  miles  south  of  Shain- 
gay,  and  on  the  coast. 

Two  new  stations  were  also  opened  on  the  Sherbro 
side,  and  four  new  ministers  were  added  to  the  mission 
district  at  the  annual  meeting.  Rev.  J.  A.  Evans,  who 
had  been  financial  agent  at  Shaingay  during  Mr.  Gomer's 
absence  to  the  United  States,  was  now  put  in  charge 
of  Avery  station,  an  important  and  responsible  place  of 
Mendi  mission.  A  small  paper  had  once  been  printed 
at  Good  Hope,  and  some  type  and  material  were  still 
there  which  might  be  utilized.  It  was  resolved  at  the 
annual  meeting  to  recommence  the  publication  of  the 
Early  Daum,  provided  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
voted  by  the  General  Conference  for  this  purpose  could 
be  secured,  with  the  approval  of  the  board.  This  was 
accomplished,  March  1,  1883,  and  Rev.  D.  F.  Wilberforce 
was  appointed  editor. 

Mr.  Flickinger,  when  on  his  way  to  Africa,  had  gone 
to  Scotland  to  confer  with  ship-builders,  and  had  also 
seen  other  parties  in  England,  and  received  bids  from 
three  different  firms  as  to  what  kind  of  a  steamer  they 
would  furnish  for  seven  thousand  dollars.  He  thought 
it  would  cost  the  other  thousand  dollars  to  get  the* 
steamer  to  Africa.  Not  being  able  to  procure  one  which 
was  thought  would  be  serviceable,  he  did  not  contract 
for  the  building  of  the  John  Brown,  and  requested  the 
New  York  committee  to  increase  the  sum,  which  it 
generously  did,  to  nine  thousand,  six  hundred  dollars. 
Accordingly,  on  his  return  trip,  after  conferring  with 
missionaries   in    Africa,  and   giving   the   subject  much 


138  HISTORY    OF    THE 

thought,  he  contracted  with  Mr.  E.  Hayes,  of  Stony 
Stratford,  Enghmd,  for  a  steamer  sixty  feet  long  and 
twelve  feet  in  the  beam,  to  carry  fifteen  tons  cargo,  and 
accommodate  six  or  eight  cabin  passengers,  besides  fuel 
to  run  two  days.  It  Avas  to  cost  £1,777,  and  be  finished 
by  October,  1883.  The  steamer  was  an  unlucky  enter- 
prise, though  it  finally  reached  Africa,  after  encounter- 
ing a  fearful  gale,  which  caused  its  return  to  Dartmouth, 
England,  where  it  was  detained  by  the  Board  of  Trade 
until  May,  1884.  There  will  be  reference  to  this  steamer 
again  further  on  in  this  history. 

At  the  district  meeting  held  in  March,  there  were 
arrangements  made  to  operate  twelve  day  and  Sunday- 
schools,  and  to  preach  in  one  hundred  and  fort^^-four 
towns,  in  connection  with  Sherbro-Mendi  missions. 
The  Bomjihe  mission,  Avhich  is  contiguous  to  Sher- 
bro  mission  on  the  northeast,  as  is  Mendi  mission  on 
the  southeast,  and  which  is  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Woman's  Missionary  Association  of  our  church,  had  at 
this  time  four  schools,  and  its  missionaries  preached  in 
forty  towns.  The  ministers  of  their  board  are  members 
of  the  same  district  meeting,  which  at  this  time  had 
sixteen  preacher::,  and  six  of  them  were  ordained  elders 
in  the  Church. 

Another  important  occurrence  of  the  year  was  the 
connection  formed  between  our  board  and  that  of  the 
Freedmen's  Missions  Aid  Association,  of  18  Adam  Street, 
Strand,  London,  England.  When  our  secretary  was  in 
New  York,  en  route  for  England,  December,  1882,  Dr. 
White,  of  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  who  had  spent  some 
time  in  England  under  appointment  of  the  American 
Missionary  Association,  soliciting  funds  for  its  work 
among  the  freedmen  in  America,  and  who,  while  there, 
■was  secretary  of  the  Freedmen's  Missions  Aid  Society, 


UNITED   BRETHREN    MISSIONS. 


139 


gave  him  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Rev.  J.  Gwynne 
Jones,  then  the  secretary  of  the  London  association. 
Dr.  Strieby,  secretary  of  the  American  Missionary  Asso- 
ciation, gave  a  simihar  letter.  With  these,  Mr.  Flickin- 
ger  visited  Mr.  Jones  and  gave  him  a  missionary  report 
of  1882,  and  other  documents,  and  made  such  statements 
of  our  work  in  Africa  as  he  thought  wise,  and  what  the 
prospects  were.  While  in  Africa  he  also  wrote-  Mr.  Jones 
respecting  it,  and  on  his  return  prepared  a  lengthy 
report,  in  which  he  brought  out  fully  what  wc  had  in 
Africa,  including  Mendi  mission.  The  result  was,  the 
London  Association  gave  us  nearly  five  thousand  dol- 
lars the  following  year,  and  has  since  given  us  consider- 
able sums.  This  was  a  memorable  year  in  the  way  of 
receiving  large  gifts,  of  which  the  reader  will  learn  more 
hereafter.  This  association,  organized  to  help  educate 
the  freedmen  of  the  South,  has  ever  since  given  its 
money  to  our  African  mission. 

The  secretary's  visit  to  Germany  was  also  timely,  and 
resulted  .in  good.  The  work  there  had  progressed  well 
in  the  main.  Upon  some  of  the  missions  marked  prog- 
ress had  been  made,  but  the  civil  authorities  had  in- 
terfered upon  others,  hindering  the  work  a  good  deal. 
Discordant  elements  had  also  developed  among  the  mis- 
sionaries to  an  extent  which  foreboded  evil,  all  of  which 
were  effectually  put  out  of  the  way  by  the  secretary's 
visit.  Four  new  members  were  admitted  to  the  district 
meeting,  and  thirteen  were  received  into  the  member- 
ship of  the  Church  during  this  meeting.  Steps  were 
also  taken  at  this  meeting  to  build  two  chapels,  and 
to  publish  a  small  monthly  paper  in  the  interests  of  our 
cause  in  Germany,  there  having  been  one  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars  set  apart  by  the  General  Conference  of  1881 
for  this  purpose,  for  the  mission  district  of  Germany  as 


140  HISTORY   OF   THE 

well  as  Africa.  With  additional  laborers  in  Germany  at 
the  disposal  of  the  board,  it  felt  it  ought  to  provide  more 
liberally  for  the  future  needs  of  that  country  than  it  liad 
been  doing,  and  this  was  to  some  extent  accomplished. 
Rev.  C.  Bischoff  was  continued  as  joresiding  elder  and 
financial  manager  of  this  mission,  and  not  receiving 
missionaries  from  America  to  enlarge  the  work,  he  pro- 
cured them  in  Germany. 

The  frontier  mission  work  of  the  Church  had  in  many 
places  peculiar  hindrances  during  the  year.  In  the 
North  and  Northwest,  especially  in  Minnesota  and 
Dakota,  owing  to  the  unusually  cold  weather,  it  was 
impossible  to  hold  meetings  part  of  the  Avinter.  In 
new  countries,  meetings  are  often  held  in  school-houses 
and  private  dwellings.  One  of  the  presiding  elders 
wrote :  "  In  many  places  the  roads  were  impassable  for 
teams  for  weeks,  and  railroads  were  blockaded  for  days." 
Another  wrote:  "On  account  of  the  excessively  cold 
weather  and  bad  roads,  I  was  able  to  hold  but  one 
meeting  during  the  month  of  January."  Notwithstand- 
ing various  hindering  causes,  there  was  some  growth  in 
these  and  other  mission  conferences.  In  portions  of  the 
Pacific  coast  district,  the  West  Kansas,  Arkansas  Valle}', 
Nebraska,  Tennessee  and  North  Michigan  mission  con- 
ferences, some  excellent  revivals  of  religion  and  large 
ingatherings  into  the  Church  had  taken  place.  Upon 
some  of  the  frontier  missions  and  mission  districts,  there 
was  very  little  prosperity,  and  upon  a  few  there  was 
actual  retrogression  during  the  year.  There  were  em- 
ployed in  this  department  one  hundred  and  sixty-four 
missionaries,  who  received  two  thousand,  seven  hundred 
and  thirty-four  members  into  the  Church  during  this 
very  eventful  year. 

Upon   home   missions   there  were   two   hundred  and 


UNITED    BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  141 

twenty-three  missionaries,  who  received  into  the  Church 
four  thousand,  five  hundred  and  forty-three  members, 
and  did  much  to  enlarge  the  Sunday-school  work  and 
make  it  more  efficient,  which  showed  commendable  prog- 
ress in  this  department  of  Church  work.  The  rapid 
increase  of  population  in  America,  and  great  destitution 
of  gospel  privileges  in  many  places,  make  it  important 
to  prosecute  home  missions  vigorously. 

The  thirfy-Jird  annual  meeting  of  the  board  was  held  May 
9,  1884,  in  Gcrmantown,  Ohio.  The  year  had  been  an 
exceedingly  eventful  one,  and  the  work  done  of  a  pro- 
gressive character,  yet  it  was  disappointing  because  the 
debt  of  the  society  was  increased  instead  of  diminished. 
This  was  owing  largely  to  the  unfortunate  disaster  which 
befell  the  steamer  John  Brown,  which  cost  several  thou- 
sand dollars,  and  our  failure  to  receive  as  much  money 
from  England  as  was  expected.  The  treasurer  of  the 
society.  Rev.  J.  K.  Billheimer,  had  gone  to  England  in 
September,  1883,  to  see  that  the  John -Brown  was  built 
according  to  contract  and  sent  to  Africa  in  time,  and  to 
assist  the  secretary  of  the  Freedmen's  Missions  Aid  So- 
ciety of  London  to  get  money  for  our  treasury.  The 
steamer  was  not  finished  in  the  time  specified,  and 
when  finished  some  changes  had  to  be  made,  so  that  it 
was  prevented  from  sailing  for  Africa  for  nearly  a  month 
later  than  was  expected.  At  last  the  John  Brown,  com- 
manded by  William  Brown,  left  London  for  Sierra 
Leone.  The  second  day  out  a  severe  gale  was  encoun- 
tered, which  caused  raany  larger  steamers  to  put  back  to 
port,  and  which  so  disabled  the  machinery  of  the  John 
Brown,  that  it  had  to  be  towed  to  Dartmouth  by  a  pilot 
boat.  Being  so  small  a  steamer,  and  the  season  of  rough 
seas  being  at  hand,  the  Board  of  Trade  refused  to  allow  it 
to  make  a  second  venture  before  ]May,  1884.     The  cost  of 


142  HISTOm'    OK    TIIK 

towing  it  into  port,  ro])airiiig  machinery,  and  keeping  it 
at  anclior  from  November  until  May,  and  finally  getting 
it  to  xVfrica,  was  enormous,  most  of  which  expense  would 
have  been  saved  had  the  steamer  started  on  its  voyage 
two  weeks  earlier.  This  caused  great  disappointment 
in  Africa,  and  also  financial  loss.  Messrs.  Flickinger 
and  Gomer  had  conferred  with  the  colonial  authorities 
of  Sierra  Leone  in  regard  to  carrying  the  mails  from 
Freetown  to  Bonthe — just  the  route  the  John  Broicn  was 
to  sail  —  and  prospects  were  good  to  have  obtained  the 
contract  of  carrying  the  mails  between  these  two  points, 
.at  the  rate  of  two  hundred  and  forty  dollars  per  month, 
had  the  steamer  reached  Africa  in  November,  1883,  in- 
stead of  May,  1884.  She  did  make  weekly  trips  between 
these  two  places,  which  are  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  apart,  and  soon  achieved  a  reputation  for  making 
her  time  more  regularly  than  any  similar  craft  which 
came  to  Freetown  harbor.  Truly,  for  the  convenience 
of  our  missionaries,  and  for  quick  and  safe  transit  of 
goods,  the  John  Brown  met  a  real  want.  Not  getting  the 
mails  to  carry,  and  being  compelled  to  employ  cheap 
men  to  run  her,  who  neglected  caring  for  her  machinery, 
she  soon  became  useless,  and  was  sold  for  a  small  sum 
after  being  a  source  of  annoyance  and  loss  to  the  mis- 
sionary society. 

One  fact  in  connection  with  this  should  be  noted,  viz. : 
the  coalition  of  Mendi  with  Sherbro  mission,  building 
and  sending  the  John  Broivn  to  Africa,  led  our  society  to 
send,  in  Octoljcr,  1883,  Rev.  and  ISIrs.  J.  M,  Lesher,  and 
Mr.  and  Mts.  W.  S.  Sage  to  that  country,  and  to  the  open- 
ing of  new  mission  stations,  and  was  the  beginning  of  a 
general  awakening  and  ingathering  of  souls  into  the 
mission  churches.  The  year  1884  brought  into  the 
Church  in  Africa  one  thousand   and  twelve   members, 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  143 

while  in  all  the  twenty-eight  years  previous,  there  had 
been  only  five  hundred  and  fourteen  received.  This 
looks  as  though  God's  set  time  had  come  to  favor  that 
country ;  and  notwithstanding  financial  disaster  and 
great  discouragements  were  connected  with  some  feat- 
ures of  that  work,  glorious  results  followed.  A  part  of 
the  secretary's  report  to  the  board  at  this  meeting,  in 
view  of  the  results  of  the  j^ear  1885,  when  over  eleven 
hundred  were  received,  and  of  the  3'ear  1886,  when  over 
thirteen  hundred  more  united  with  the  Church,  is  in- 
serted here  to  show  that  some  things  may  be  forecast 
2:)retty  correctl}' : 

"  The  reverses  of  the  last  year  caused  me  to  carefully 
examine  all  the  circumstances,  to  see  whether  it  was  not 
a  blunder  for  us  to  undertake  so  great  a  work  as  we  now 
have  in  Africa.  The  more  carefully  this  question  is  ex- 
amined, the  more  fully  will  it  appear  that  in  this  we 
were  providentially  led,  and  that  God's  blessing  has 
manifestly  rested  upon  our  efforts  to  reinforce  that  field 
with  efficient  laborers,  who  in  connection  with  those 
Avho  were  previously  there,  are  having  very  encour- 
aging success.  It  is  true  of  Africa  that  every  prospect 
pleases,  but  our  treasury  is  empty.  Everything  con- 
nected with  the  late  great  enlargement  of  our  work  in 
that  country,  indicates  that  the  same  Providence  which 
led  us  so  vmexpectedly  into  the  responsible  position  we 
now  occupy  as  a  board  of  missions,  will  guide  us  to  a 
glorious  victory,  and  an  honorable  end,  if  we  are  faith- 
ful. As  I  stated  to  the  General  Conference  fifteen  years 
ago,  in  reference  to  mission  work  in  Africa,  so  I  say  now, 
I  cannot  but  believe  that  a  glorious  harvest  of  souls  will 
yet  be  gathered  among  that  people,  and  that  before  long, 
by  the  church  which  does  faithful  work  in  that  dark 
land.     The  magnitud?  of  the  work  which  our  heavenly 


144  HISTORY   OF    THE 

Father  has  so  evidently  placed  in  our  hands  may  well 
cause  us  to  falter,  considering  the  great  liability  there  is 
in  our  being  misunderstood,  and  even  censured,  in  case 
reverses  should  come,  unless  "vve  are  able  to  Avalk  by  faith 
and  not  by  sight." 

The  year's  work  done  in  German}^  was  of  an  encour- 
aging character.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  Rev.  C.  Bischoff, 
who  had  been  presiding  elder  of  the  work  ever  since  its 
organization  into  a  district,  and  general  superintendent 
of  it  from  its  commencement,  desired  to  retire  from  the 
work,  the  executive  committee  had  appointed  Rev.  J. 
Sick  to  serve  in  said  capacity  for  three  years.  Mr.  Sick 
and  family,  consisting  of  his  wife  and  one  child,  sailed 
the  day  before  the  board  met,  and  reached  the  mission 
the  last  of  May,  1884.  The  secretary  had  pleaded  for  an 
average  of  ten  cents  to  the  member  for  the  growing 
Avork  in  Africa  above  what  came  to  the  society  from 
the  American  Missionary  Association,  and  the  Freed- 
men's  Missions  Aid  Society  and  now  he  modestly  asks 
that  two  cents  to  the  member  be  given  to  Germany  in 
view  of  its  success  and  increased  necessities,  stating  at 
the  close  of  his  plea  that  with  the  debt  against  the 
society  the  appropriations  to  them  ought  not  be  more 
than  the  year  previous. 

The  secretary^ also  said:  "There  are  some  questions 
relating  to  our  frontier  mission  fields  which  the  board 
and  the  next  General  Conference  ought  to  consider  and 
settle.  There  are  several  mission  conferences  that  are 
eking  out  a  miserable  existence  which  ought  never  to 
have  been  more  than  mission  districts.  Whether  this 
board  ought  to  take  the  responsibility  now  of  reducing 
them  to  what  they  should  have  been  made  by  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  is  a  question.  That  there  ought  to  be  a 
thorough  reconstruction  of  our  fr;)ntier  and  home  mis- 


UNITED    BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  145 

sions  is  a  fact  which  the  General  Conference  ought  to 
provide  for  at  its  next  session,  or  which  this  board  ought 
to  inaugurate  now.  There  is  one  important  reform  that 
the  missionary  board  and  the  bishops  should  bring  about 
at  once,  at  least  heroically  grapple  with ;  namely,  cease  to 
employ  incompetent  men  as  missionaries.  Better  send 
fewer  men  into  the  field  with  an  adecpiate  support.  Em- 
ploying men  who  not  infrequently  have  little  else  to  rec- 
ommend them,  except  that  they  offer  to  work  cheap, 
thus  necessitating  the  diminishing  of  appropriations  to 
good  men,  is  a  mistaken  policy.  Better  have  half  the 
number  of  efficient  men,  and  pay  them  enough  to  live 
comfortably,  than  to  pursue  such  a  course.  This  board 
and  our  bishops  should  wage  a  fierce  war  against  this 
evil,  and  stand  by  their  guns  until  it  is  effectually  extir- 
pated." 

Ontario  Conference  had  made  about  the  usual  prog- 
ress, building  two  chapels,  and  in  other  ways  strength- 
ening the  places  held,  but  not  increasing  its  membership 
much.  North  Michigan  continued  to  advance  rapidly  in 
enlarging  its  territory,  increasing  its  membership,  build- 
ing new  houses  of  worship,  and  organizing  new  Sunday- 
schools.  Fox  River  scarcely  held  its  own,  except  in  the 
town  of  Cascade,  which  place  was  favored  with  a  season 
of  revival,  which  resulted  in  the  conversion  of  many 
sinners  and  the  upbuilding  of  the  church  at  that  place. 
In  Minnesota  substantial  progress  was  made  in  church- 
building  and  increasing  the  membership  of  the  church. 
The  cold  winter  caused  many  of  our  people  to  leave  the 
State  for  warmer  places.  Dakota  suffered  for  want  of 
laborers,  which,  with  the  severity  of  the  winter  and  want 
of  houses  in  which  to  hold  our  meetings,  militated  much 
against  our  success.  The  work  of  the  society  here  might 
have  been  greatly  advanced  had  it  kept  a  sufficient  force 


146  HISTORY   OF    THE 

in  the  field  to  occupy  all  the  places  open  to  its  mission- 
aries. Walla  Walla  had  one  of  the  most  successful  years 
in  its  entire  history.  With  the  increase  of  membership, 
organized  churches,  and  Sunday-schools,  and  with  Wash- 
ington Seminary,  at  Huntsville,  which  was  doing  good 
work,  our  prospects  in  every  way  were  brightening.  Ore- 
gon Mission  Conference  had  some  very  unfortunate  in- 
cidents to  occur  during  the  j'car.  Certain  members  of 
this  conference  seemed  to  think  it  was  their  duty  to  find 
fault  with  the  board  and  the  last  General  Conference. 
They  spent  more  time  in  finding  fault  than  in  sacrific- 
ing for  Christ's  sake  and  exerting  themselves  to  build  up 
the  Church.  Revivals  of  religion  at  Philomath,  the  site 
of  our  college  in  Oregon,  and  a  few  other  places,  were 
encouraging.  Rev.  G.  Sickafoose,  who  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  board  in  1881,  had  been  sent  to  Portland 
as  a  missionary,  it  being  embraced  in  this  conference. 
His  wife  was  appointed  a  missionary  to  the  Chinese  of 
that  city  by  the  Woman's  Missionary  Association  of  our 
church.  They  had  reached  that  city  in  July,  1883.  The 
secretary  said  in  his  report:  "They  have  been  quite  suc- 
cessful in  their  work  among  Chinese,  but  less  so  in  the 
other  mission  there.  Mr.  Sickafoose  has  labored  at  a 
great  disadvantage,  owing  to  the  want  of  a  proper  place 
in  which  to  hold  meetings,  and  then  his  relation  to  the 
Chinese  work  prejudiced  many  people  against  him.  Per- 
sonally, I  am  glad  that  we  have  indirectly,  at  least,  done 
something  toAvard  the  opening  of  a  mission  among  the 
Chinese  of  the  Pacific  coast,  and  may  heaven's  blessing 
ever  rest  upon  that  well-begun  work  and  give  it  contin- 
ued success." 

In  California  there  was  steady  and  encouraging,  though 
not  rapid,  growth  during  the  year.  The  work  being  scat- 
tered, required  the  missionaries  to  travel  a  great  deal, 


UNITED   BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  147 

which  cost  time  and  money.  The  seminary  at  Wood- 
bridge,  California,  had  become  San  Joaquin  Valley  Col- 
lege, and  had  been  built  up  a  good  deal  during  the  year 
which  had  just  closed.  For  the  success  of  this  institu- 
tion our  missionaries  had  labored  zealously  and  success- 
fully. This  subject  was  receiving  considerable  atten- 
tion in  the  Pacific  coast  district,  which,  with  but  two 
thousand  one  hundred  and  sixteen  members  of  the 
Church,  and  not  to  exceed  thirty  itinerant  jDreachers, 
had  established  two  colleges  and  one  seminary,  and  had 
very  little  debt. 

Elkhorn  Mission  Conference,  in  Western  Nebraska,  had 
been  organized,  and  at  its  annual  session,  in  July,  1883, 
started  with  six  missions,  which  were  increased  to  twelve 
fields  of  labor,  and  had  increased  its  membership  over 
half  since  the  beginning  of  the  year,  and  was  prospering 
generally. 

West  Nebraska  Conference  was  reported  by  one  of  its 
presiding  elders  thus :  "  West  Nebraska  is  growing  and 
the  future  is  hopeful.  Many  things  will  have  to  be  over- 
come. One  per[)lexing  thing  is  the  support  of  our  min- 
isters The  western  part  of  our  territory  is  too  dry  for 
any  certainty  of  crops,  yet  the  people  go  there  and  need 
the  bread  of  life,  and  we  must  strive  to  give  it  to  them." 
This  striving  to  reach  points  far  removed  from  the  main 
j)ortion  of  a  mission  has  not  infrequently  caused  a  good 
missionary  to  scatter  his  work  over  so  much  territory 
that  lie  amounted  to  but  little  anywhere.  East  Ne- 
braska Conference  continued,  as  it  had  generally  done 
from  its  organization,  to  prosper  during  this  year,  and 
was  ready  to  take  its  place  among  the  self-supporting 
conferences  and  contribute  money  for  other  fields  rather 
than  receive  for  its  support  from  the  missionary  treas- 
ury.     No  part  of  the  frontier  work   Lad  such  uniform 


148  -  lilSTOlJV    OF    THE 

success  as  this,  and   nowhere  was   more  done   for   the 
amount  of  money  expended. 

West  Kansas  Conference  had  a  good  year  and  the  out 
look  for  the  future  was  hopeful.  Gould  College,  which 
had  been  commenced  a  few  years  before  within  its 
bounds,  had  succeeded  well,  and  the  good  beginning 
which  it  and  the  conference  had  made  was  encouraging. 
The  country  was  filling  up  with  enterprising  people, 
which  was  an  additional  hopeful  feature  of  this  field  of 
labor. 

Arkansas  Valley  Conference  had  held  two  sessions 
during  the  year,  changing  from  fall  to  spring.  This  is 
mainly  in  the  southern  portion  of  Kansas,  and  has 
had  a  good  degree  of  prosperity  from  its  organization. 
During  the  year  over  four  hundred  had  been  added  to 
the  membership  of  the  Church,  which  was  rapid  growth 
for  a  young  conference. 

Southwest  Missouri  had  but  moderate  success.  The 
scarcity  of  laborers,  and  neglecting  to  follow  up  good 
openings  made  by  revivals  of  religion,  made  the  success 
here  less  than  it  should  have  been. 

Owing  to  the  illness  of  some  of  the  missionaries,  and 
the  inefficiency  of  others,  the  progress  in  Southern  Illi- 
nois was  not  satisfactory.  Here,  as  was  the  case  in  a  few 
other  places,  the  people  had  no  spirit  of  liberality.  They 
paid  scarcely  anything  for  the  support  of  the  gospel  in 
their  midst,  and  but  little  good  was  done. 

Tennessee  Mission  Conference  had  a  jirosperous  year. 
A  good  house  of  worship  had  been  built  near  Knoxville, 
where  there  was  a  strong  society,  and  similar  organiza- 
tions were  effected  and  houses  built  in  other  portions  of 
the  conference  district.  Edwards'  Academy,  at  White 
Pine,  had  also  a  j^rosperous  year.  This  institution  of 
learning  had  been  a  hindrance   rather   than  a  help  to 


UNITED   BRETHREN    MISSIONS  149 

our  work  in  Tennessee,  owing  to  its  financial  difficulties, 
which,  as  a  matter  of  course,  embarrassed  the  conference 
to  which  it  belonged.  Prospects  are  noAv  good,  although 
the  lack  of  a  spirit  of  liberality  in  the  support  of  church 
institutions,  so  common  in  our  Southern  mission  fields, 
is  a  drawback  among  the  people  here,  also. 

Kentucky  mission  district  had  about  the  usual  success 
in  making  converts  and  accessions  to  the  Church,  but 
continued  to  give  so  little  to  the  support  of  those  labor- 
ing among  them  that  the  secretary,  in  his  report,  said : 
•''Our  heathen  converts  in  Africa  pay  more  money  than 
the  members  in  Kentucky.  The  ministers  seem  to  be 
good  men,  and  they  preach  well  enough,  but  fail  to  reach 
the  pockets  of  the  people.  They  pa}'  so  little  as  to  cause 
doubts  of  the  genuineness  of  their  conversion." 

Colorado  mission  district,  especially  the  two  churches 
in  Denver,  had  a  good  year,  and  the  outlook  was  becom- 
ing brighter  than  it  had  been.  Some  peculiar  difficulties 
had  existed  here  for  years,  and  the  deleterious  effects  of 
these  were  still  seen  and  felt,  but  nevertheless  there  was 
successful  work  done  in  this  field. 

The  German  mission  in  Toledo,  Ohio,  did  well  during 
the  year.  The  most  hopeful  feature  of  this  charge  was 
that  the  Sunday-school  connected  with  it  promised  in 
the  near  future  to  give  the  church  an  increase  of  mem- 
bers. The  church  and  parsonage  being  located  in  a 
dense  German  population,  and  being  paid  for,  was  also  a 
hopeful  feature.  The  Philadelphia  German  missions, 
one  located  on  Fourth  Street  and  the  other  at  Port 
Richmond,  had  little  success,  and,  though  .possessing 
interesting  Sundaj'-schools,  the  outlook  was  not  very 
promising. 

Home  missions,  though  not  so  generally  prosperous 
ciuring   the   year   as   in   some   preceding    years,    had   a 


loO  iiisToKY  OK  Tin: 

number  of  the  most  extensive  revivals  that  ever  occurred 
in  our  midst,  which  brought  many  into  the  Church. 

In  January  of  this  year,  a  four  page  tract  which  pre- 
sented the  hopeful  features  of  our  mission  work,  written 
by  the  secretary,  and  authorized  by  the  executive  com- 
mittee, was  sent  to  the  preachers  for  free  distribution. 
No  less  than  one  hundred  and  two  thousand  copies  of 
this  tract  were  sent  out.  Rev.  J.  Kemp,  who  had  been 
treasurer  of  the  society  for  twelve  years,  and  a  member 
of  the  board  from  its  organization,  died  during  the  year. 
The  secretary  said  of  him :  "  Amidst  all  the  discourage- 
ments and  trials  growing  out  of  a  lack  of  funds,  Mr. 
Kemp  never  wearied,  nor  thought  any  privation  too 
great  which  was  necessary  to  sustain  our  cause.  He  was 
always  hopeful  and  helpful,  and  we  will  greatly  miss 
him  in  our  councils." 

The  following  action  of  the  board  should  also  have  a 
place  in  this  connection  :  ^^ Resolved,  That  we  have  heard 
with  profound  sorrow  of  the  death  of  David  Louding, 
one  of  the  African  boys  the  Church  has  been  educating 
for  missionary  work  in  his  native  country ;  and  while 
this  dispensation  of  Providence  is  dark  and  inexplicable, 
and  defeats  many  of  our  highest  expectations,  we  bow 
M'ith  submission  to  the  stroke,  praying  that  it  may  be 
overruled  for  good  to  the  Church  in  this  country  and  to 
the  poor  and  degraded  in  Africa."  It  was  on  Saturday, 
the  10th  of  May,  when  this  sad  news  was  received  by 
telephone.  The  following  Monday  most  of  the  members 
of  the  board  went  to  Dayton  to  attend  the  funeral  of 
David.  This  boy  was  born  in  November,  1866,  in  a 
native  African  village,  called  Mosam,  twenty  miles  south 
of  Shaingay,  the  principal  mission  station  of  Sherbro 
mission.  When  about  five  years  old  he  became  a  mis- 
sion boy  at  Shaingay.  -,  Though  his  training  up  to  that 


UNITED   BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  151 

time  was  heathen,  and   he  possessed  all  the  vices  and 
superstitions  of  that  country,  yet  it  is  true  of  him  that 
he   arose   rapidly   to   intellectual    and    moral  greatness, 
and  at  less  than  eighteen  years  of  age  died  a  triumphant 
Christian  death.     He  accompanied  Mr.  Flickinger  from 
Africa  to  the  United  States  in  the  spring  of  1880,  and 
during  the  four  years  he  was  in  America  he  stood  high 
as  a  Christian  and  a  scholar,  as  he  had  for  some  years  in 
Africa.     His  funeral  Avas  one  of  the  largest  and  saddest 
that  ever  occurred   in    Dayton,  Ohio.      Professor   John 
Hancock,  superintendent  of  the  public  schools  of  Day- 
ton, one  of  the  speakers  of  the  occasion,  said  of  him: 
"He  maintained  his  place  in  the  High  School  in  the  first 
division,  and  was  one  of  the  best  scholars.     I  seldom 
knew   a   brighter  intellect."     Others   spoke   of   him    in 
equal  terms  of  praise  on  that  occasion.     He  was  indeed 
a  great  and  good  boy  and  young  man.     His  life  and 
death,  and  the  lives  and  deaths  of  others  in  Africa  who 
were  led  to  Christ  through  the  labors  of  our  missionaries, 
show  that  it  pays  to  work  among  that  people.     John 
Wesley  said  of  his  followers  that  they  died  well  ]  and  so 
it  may  be  said  of  quite  a  number  of  our  converts  in 
Africa,  some  young,  some  old,  who  showed  in  death  that 
they  had  been  with  Christ  and  learned  of  him.     What- 
ever may  be  said  of  their  ignorance  and  infirmities,  the 
proof  is  clear  that  they  exercised  an  intelligent  faith  in 
Christ  in  the  last  moments  of  life,  and  that  there  is  good 
reason  to  believe  they  were  prepared  to  dwell  with  the 
saints  in  light,  through  the  atoning  merits  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.     That  the  gospel  "is  the  power  of  God 
unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth,"   is  a  fact 
well  attested  in  Africa  and  elsewhere. 

The  thirty-second  annual  session  of  the  hoard  met  in  Fosto- 
ria,  Ohio,  May  13, 1885,  where  the  General  Conference  con- 


152  HISTORY   f)i''    THE 

vened  two  days  later.  Owing  to  the  difficulties  in  Oregon, 
referred  to  in  the  account  given  of  last  year's  work,  at 
the  urgent  request  of  Bishop  Castle  and  the  Board  of 
Missions,  in  1884,  the  secretary  visited  the  Pacific  coast 
district.  He  started  two  weeks  after  the  former  meeting 
and  met  Bishop  Castle  in  Washington  Territory,  where 
they  were  busy  for  a  few  weeks  attending  quarterly  and 
dedication  meetings,  and  then  the  Walla  Walla  Mission 
Conference,  which  convened  in  Huntsville  the  following 
month.  During  the  session  of  this  conference  the  ques- 
tion was  under  discussion  what  to  do  with  our  church 
property  in  Walla  Walla  City.  This  consisted  of  a  lot, 
with  a  house  of  worship  and  a  parsonage,  worth  $3,500. 
Our  work  had  failed  in  that  city,  and  some  thought  it 
wise  to  sell  this  property ;  others  thought  it  would  be 
best  to  lease  it,  as  the  city  was  a  prominent  place  and 
growing.  To  sell  was  the  most  popular  view,  especially 
as  a  few  other  places,  greatly  needing  mone}'  to  pay 
church  debts,  might  thus  be  helped.  The  secretar}^  who 
was  much  interested  in  the  Chinese  work,  after  learning 
there  were  quite  a  number  of  Chinese  in  that  city,  and 
nothing  done  for  their  Christianization,  proposed  that  it 
be  used  for  a  Chinese  school,  to  which  the  conference 
agreed.  With  Bishop  Castle's  help,  a  subscription  of  five 
hundred  dollars  was  secured  the  last  evening  of  the  con- 
Terence  to  start  said  school,  and  a  committee  appointed  to 
superintend  the  work.  The  school  was  opened  the  fol- 
lowing November,  and  it  has  prosj^ered  well  ever  since, 
though  greatly  straitened  for  means  a  number  of  times. 
.  The  bishop  and  secretary  next  went  to  Oregon,  and 
visited  the  Chinese  school  in  Portland,  where  Rev.  G. 
Sickafoose  and  wife  were  doing  a  good  work  among 
the  Chinese.  The  Oregon  Conference  met  that  time  in 
Philomath,  the  site  of  the  college  controlled  by  the  con- 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  153 

ference,  and  the  home  of  Bishop  Castle.  The  course  of 
a  few  of  the  missionaries  in  their  disagreement  and  dis- 
approval of  some  things  done  by  the  board  made  it  diffi- 
cult for  their  bishop  to  administer  the  laws  of  the  Church 
in  some  instances  and  greatly  retarded  the  cause.  A  dif- 
ference of  opinion  upon  the  subject  of  holiness  and  re- 
specting secret  societies,  and  the  want  of  confidence  in 
each  other,  produced  a  spirit  of  alienation  among  the 
members  of  this  conference.  One  of  the  principal  ob- 
jects of  the  secretary's  visit  to  the  coast  was  to  bring 
about  more  harmony  between  the  brethren  of  Oregon 
Conference  and  their  bishop,  and  this  end  was  largely 
secured.  New  issues  were  afterward  developed  which 
prevented  a  few  of  them  from  fully  harmonizing,  but 
not  from  working  together  as  true  yoke-fellows.  By 
the  efficient  aid  of  Bishop  Castle,  the  secretary  received 
in  collections  taken  for  the  African  mission  a  sum 
which  more  than  i)aid  the  expenses  of  his  entire  trip. 
From  Oregon  he  went  to  California  and  spent  about 
two  weeks,  and  he  also  staid  several  days  in  Colorado, 
assisting  the  missionaries  in  these  places,  and  in  both 
of  them  the  work  progressed  quite  well.  The  year's 
work  had  been  encouraging  taken  as  a  whole  in  the 
four  conferences  considered.  There  were  in  all  of  them 
some  revivals  which  resulted  in  many  conversions  and 
accessions  to  the  Church,  but  still  there  were  discourag- 
ing features  in  Oregon  and  Colorado. 

There  was  but  little  progress  made  in  Southern  Illi- 
nois, Fox  River,  and  Dakota  conferences  during  the 
year.  In  Tennessee,  Southwest  Missouri,  Elkhorn,  West 
Nebraska,  Minnesota,  and  Ontario  conferences  there 
was  moderate  prosperity.  In  Arkansas  Valley,  West 
Kansas,  East  Nebraska,  and  Saginaw  the  growth  was 
rapid,  though  the  last-nanird  had  some  adverse  winds 


154  HISTORY    OF    THE 

to  blow  upon  it.  The  Kentucky  mission,  the  Phila- 
delphia, Pennsylvania,  and  ToledOj  Ohio,  missions  made 
but  little  visible  progress,  though  in  Toledo  the  prospects 
Avere  brightening  continually.  Home  missions  received 
the  usual  attention  during  the  last  year,  as  formerly,  and 
Avith  gratifying  results.  The  average  results  were  never 
better.  The  secretary  raised  the  question  as  to  whether 
there  ought  not  be  a  branch  hoard  in  each  self-support- 
ing conference  to  superintend  home  missions  within  its 
bounds,  saying  if  such  should  be  provided,  the  branch 
secretary  and  branch  treasurer  should  be  members  of  it. 

About  the  1st  of  October,  1884,  the  secretary  went  to 
England,  where  he  spent  two  months  working  in  con- 
nection with  the  London  society  in  behalf  of  Africa. 
He  sailed  for  that  country  in  December,  reaching  the 
mission  the  first  week  of  January,  1885,  where  he  re- 
mained until  the  following  spring,  leaving  Africa  barely 
in  time  to  reach  the  General  Conference.  In  his  absence 
the  treasurer  was  acting  secretary,  and  jirepared  and  read 
the  annual  report  at  this  meeting.  What  he  had  to  say 
respecting  the  foreign  department  is  given  here  in  full : 

"It  would  be  satisfactory  to  know  the  number  of  con- 
versions and  accessions  in  Germany  the  past  year.  The 
presiding  elder  has  kept  us  well  informed  of  the  jjrogress 
of  the  work,  but  we  are  not  in  possession  of  the  aggre- 
gates. We  know  enough,  however,  to  be  much  encour- 
aged witli  the  work  in  Germany.  While  the  poor  have 
the  gospel  preached  to  them,  the  wealthier  and  more  in- 
fluential are  also  hearing  the  word  and  accepting  the 
Savior,  being  convinced  that  while  the  state  fosters  and 
churches  conserve  the  highest  good  of  the  citizen  as  such, 
it  does  not  and  cannot  save  the  people  from  their  sins. 
If  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  both  are  liable  to  fall  into 
the  ditch.     The  cry  from  Germany  for  more  money  has 


UNITED    BUETHKEN    MISSIONS.  155 

been  loud  and  continuous.     With  our  present  resources 
we  cannot  enlarge  the  work." 

Respecting  the  Sherbro-Mendi  mission  in  Africa,  he 
said:  "But  few  if  any  of  our  home  charges  are  able  to 
report  so  large  an  increase  as  this  mission.     While  some 
may  count  thirty  and  some  fifty-fold,  Sherbro  mission 
has  had  nearly  two  hundred  per  cent  increase.     Accord- 
ing to  the  directions  of  the  board  at  its  last  annual  meet- 
ing, the  corresponding  secretary  went  to  England,  where 
he  did  much  to  further  our  interests  by  public  meetings 
and  private  solicitation.     He  found  and  left  the  Freed- 
men's  Missions  Aid  Society  in  hearty  accord  with  us  in 
our  work  on  the  west  coast.      Some  immediate  fruits 
Avere  the  result  of  his  labors,  and   the   foundation  al- 
ready laid  was  strengthened   for  future  aid   from  that 
source.     We  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  this  society  for 
what  it  has  done,  and  have  reason   to  believe  it  will 
continue  to  favor  us.     The  enlargement  of  Sherbro  mis- 
sion, which  was  based  on  expectations   that   have  not 
been  fully  realized,  has  made  the  work  more  expensive 
to  the  society  than  during  any  previous  year  of  its  his- 
tory.    The  presence   of  our  secretary  was    never  more 
needed  on  the  field  than  during  the  past  year.     Brother 
Gomer  Avas  being  borne  on  the  tidal  wave  of  a  great  work 
with  such  force  and  rapidity  as  gave  him  no  time  to  look 
back.     The  mighty  ship  Avas  under  full  sail.     It  is  easy 
to  make  sail  with  a  gentle  breeze — not  so  easy  to  take  it 
in  in  a  storm.     The  secretary  helped  him  to  take  in  and 
furl  all  the  royal  and  top  sails  and  the  flying  jib,  thus 
easing  the  ship  down  to  a  speed  more  in  conformity  to 
the  idea  of  the  United  Brethren  Church.     Our  motto  for 
this  fiscal  year  is:   'Go  slow;  keep  in  the  edge  of  the 
trade  Avinds.'     If  some  heathen   craft  Avith  the  distress 
signal  hails  you  for  a  cup  of  water,  or  to  be  taken  on 


156  HISTORY   OF   THE 

board,  and  thus  be  rescued  from  death,  answer  back : 
'Our  supply  of  water  is  limited,  and  we  are  forbidden 
to  take  any  more  on  board.'  Sail  on,  good  ship,  and  let 
them  perish.  Colloquy  on  the  heathen  craft :  '  Wq  i^erish 
for  water!  Why  is  their  suj^ply  limited?  They  have 
plenty  of  vessels,  and  can  get  more  (missionaries) ;  why 
are  they  not  filled?  Who  sent  the  ship  here?'  'The 
Christian  people  of  America.'  '  But  why  not  fill  their 
vessels?'  'Because  some  did  not  want  to  spare  the 
water,  and  others  think  the  barrels  leak  and  the  M'ater 
is  wasted.'  'But  if  we  could  only  have  the  leakage,  we 
would  not  die,'  like  the  woman  who  would  be  contented 
with  the  crumbs  that  fell  from  the  master's  table.  The 
general  order  which  was  sent  all  along  the  line  is:  'Re- 
trench ;  go  no  further ;  reduce  your  working  force ;  do 
less  work.'  This  is  the  policy  the  committee  and  secre- 
tary are  forced  to  adoj^t ;  and  this  is  the  policy  which 
will  govern  the  Church  until  more  money  is  placed  at 
the  command  of  the  board.  The  management  of  our 
foreign  work  has  been  criticised.  Why  ?  Because  of 
our  heavy  ex2:>enditures.  What  is  missionary  money 
for  ?  Is  it  to  keep  in  some  safe  place  ?  You  must  get 
all  the  money  you  can,  but  you  must  not  employ  any 
one  to  administer  it,  and  you  must  not  send  too  much 
of  it  to  the  missionaries.  Now,  if  any  man  can  prove 
that  more  could  have  been  accomplished  with  less  ex- 
penditure, he  will  make  a  point.  Let  us  compare  figures. 
The  following  cost  of  converts  in  heathen  lands  by  differ- 
ent boards,  given  in  the  Foreign  Mls-nonarij,  does  not  in- 
clude our  board,  but  we  will  include  it :  In  the  Congre- 
gational foreign  missions  there  were  added  during  the 
year  2,371  members  (converts),  at  a  cost  of  S2G5, 647.94, 
or  S248.14  per  member;  the  Christian  Church  received 
into  her  communion,  from  lieathen  converts,  365,  at  a 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  157 

cost  of  $72.88  per  member;  the  Episcopalian  missions 
received  228,  at  a  cost  of  $592.03  per  member ;  the  Meth- 
odist foreign  missions  received  2,781,  at  a  cost  of  $234.91 
per  member;  and  the  Baptist  Church  received  on  its  for- 
eign missions  11,891,  at  a  cost  of  $37.05  per  member.  But 
let  us  enlarge  this  price-list.  So  far  as  the  Baptist  mis- 
sion is  concerned,  the  secretary  of  the  Presbyterian  board 
justly  finds  fault  with  the  methods  by  which  they  arrive 
at  those  figures.  The  figures  given  by  the  other  boards 
represent  the  number  gathered  in  from  among  the  hea- 
then, but  the  Baptists  include  all  in  foreign  lands.  About 
7,000  Baptist  converts  were  made  in  Sweden  and  Ger- 
many, while  4,679  converts  were  made  from  among  the 
heathen  at  a  cost  of  $67  per  member,  which  is  still  the 
lowest  by  $5.88  per  member,  while  we  report  for  Sherbro 
1,013  at  a  cost  of  $23.68  per  member.  This  is  one  of  the 
most  encouraging  facts  that  was  ever  recorded  on  the 
pages  of  the  United  Brethren  missionary  history.  There 
is  a  time  to  sow,  and  there  is  a  time  to  reap.  We  have  had 
our  seed-time ;  now  the  harvest  moon  is  full,  the  wheat  is 
ripe  for  the  harvest.  Where  are  the  reapers  that  garner 
in  the  sheaves  ?  Come  with  youv  sickles,  ye  sons  of  men, 
and  gather  together  the  golden  grain." 

The  secretary  in  his  report  to  the  General  Conference, 
which  met  two  days  later,  said :  "  The  last  four  jeavs 
have  been  the  most  remarkable  in  all  our  history.  Truly 
God  has  led  us  in  ways  we  knew  not,  and  which  have 
been  extraordinary.  Unlooked  for  and  radical  changes 
took  place  in  Africa,  and  in  some  respects  in  Germany, 
which  gave  us  much  to  think  of  and  to  do.  Of  the  three 
visits  made  to  Africa  by  myself,  two  of  them  were  occa- 
sioned by  the  transfer  of  Mendi  mission  to  us  for  a  term 
of  five  years,  half  of  which  time  has  expired.  As  you 
are  aware,  we  commenced  the  term  with  a  debt,  which 


158  IIISTOKV    OF    THE 

■\vc  hoped  to  ])ay,  and  did  pa}'  in  j^art,  when  things  took 
a  sudden  turn  against  us;  and  despite  our  best  efforts 
the  debt  grew  larger  instead  of  smaller,  so  that  now  we 
are  deeper  in  debt  than  ever  before.  Your  ofiicers,  the 
executive  committee,  and  board  of  managers  struggled 
heroically  to  turn  the  tide,  but  failed  to  do  it.  The  dis- 
aster which  befell  the  steamer  John  Broivn  cost  us  large 
sums  of  money,  and  caused  us  to  send  more  laborers  to 
Africa  than  we  should  have  done.  We  also  failed  to 
receive  as  much  money  from  England  as  we  and  our 
friends  there  hoped  Ave  would,  owing  to  the  hard  times 
which  prevailed  there  during  the  last  two  years.  Over 
six  thousand  dollars  have  been  paid  to  us  in  London, 
however,  which  justifies  our  co-operation  with  the  Freed- 
men's  Missions  Aid  Society.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that 
God  has,  in  a  marked  manner,  overruled  for  the  promo- 
tion of  his  cause  in  Africa  these  blunders  and  mistakes, 
as  they  seem  to  have  been.  The  work  has  been  rapidly 
and  advantageously  enlarged,  which  could  not  have  been 
but  for  the  sending  of  the  steamer  Jb/m  Brown,  and  the 
excellent  services  of  the  four  missionaries  sent  out  last 
year.  The  valuable  buildings  erected,  with  the  fact  that 
over  one  thousand  were  added  to  the  Church  during  the 
year  1884,.  go  very  far  to  apologize  for  the  mistakes  made, 
if  they  were  such.  It  looks  very  much  as  though  the 
Lord  had  managed  some  of  the  things  charged  up  to 
Mr.  Gomer,  the  officers  of  the  missionary  society,  and 
the  executive  committee.  At  all  events,  he  has  greatly 
blessed  these  things  in  rapidly  building  up  his  cause 
and  saving  many  precious  souls  in  degraded  Africa. 
\  While  there  last  winter  I  examined  into  the  financial 
and  moral  standing  and  worth  of  the  mission  more  care- 
fully than  I  ever  did  before,  and  with  results  far  more 
favorable  than  I  believed  possible.     In  our  distress  for 


UNITED    BUETIIKKX    .MI.-.SIONS.  l59 

money  we  seriously  considered  the  question  of  selling 
out  in  part  or  in  whole.  This  led  to  the  discovery  tluit 
we  were  worth  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  that  the  cash  could  be  realized  upon  one  half  of 
this  at  any  time,  and  we  believe  upon  it  all  in  the  near 
future.  The  cash  assets  consist  in  produce  and  goods  in 
mission  stores,  nearly  one  dozen  rowboats  and  canoes, 
and  mission  wharf  and  warehouse,  with  privilege  to  do 
business  upon  the  mission  premises,  on  condition  that  if 
we  sell  out  we  are  not  to  engage  in  business.  The  bal-  . 
ance  of  our  assets  consists  in  lands,  houses,  shops,  and 
farms,  which  are  valuable,  and  especially  for  mission 
purposes. 

"  The  more  valuable  assets  of  the  mission  are  the  relig- 
ious and  moral  influences  in  operation,  producing  results 
exceedingly  gratifying.  I  tried  to  invoice  the  gospel  seed 
sown  in  the  two  hundred  and  ninety-four  towns  into 
which  our  missionaries  go.  There  are  five  hundred  chil- 
dren in  our  day  and  Sunday-schools,  upon  most  of  Avhose 
young  hearts  the  law  of  God  has  been  so  engraved  as  to 
lead  them  to  Christ.  I  also  took  account  of  the  one 
thousand,  five  hundred  and  twenty-six  members  we 
have  there,  the  large  majority  of  whom  were,  a  few  years 
ago,  as  degraded  heathen  as  ever  lived.  Most  of  them 
are  now  striving  earnestly  to  follow  Christ.  I  also  made 
note  of  the  sixty  raw  heathen  who  walked  several 
miles,  near  the  hour  of  midnight,  and  awoke  one  of  our 
missionaries  to  have  him  tell  them  of  Christ.  The  mis- 
sionary had  preached  in  the  evening  to  about  thirty 
persons,  it  being  the  first  time  he  was  there.  Two  men 
were  there  from  a  neighboring  town,  who  went  home 
after  meeting  and  told  what  they  had  heard,  which  so 
interested  the  people  that  sixty  of  them  came  to  where 
the  missionary   was,  and  waked  him   up,  saying  they 


160  IIISTOllV    OF    THE 

feared  that  he  would  be  gone  before  they  conld  get  there 
in  the  morning,  and  so  they  came  now  to  hear  him 
speak  that  same  God  word  to  them  tliat  he  had  spoken  a 
few  hours  before.  As  a  matter  of  course,  he  dressed 
himself,  got  a  light  and  his  Bible,  and  preached,  to  the 
great  delight  of  the  people  and  joy  of  his  own  heart,  for 
the  Master  was  there. 

"  I  next  took  stock  of  the  scores  of  souls  safely  landed 
in  heaven.  A  few  now  come  to  mind  :  Quiah  Mammie, 
the  old  slave-woman  whom  Mr.  Gomer  and  myself  saw- 
dying  on  a  grass  mat  about  half  as  long  as  her  body,  on 
the  ground,  with  some  dirty  rags  for  a  pillow ;  the  one- 
eyed  old  Avoman  whom  Ave  saw  lying  on  the  sunny  side  of 
a  large  tree  to  counteract  the  chill  of  death,  with  a  coarse 
coffee-bag  around  her  body  as  her  only  covering;  our 
Mohammedan  friend,  who  was  poisoned,  and  who  suf- 
fered much  and  long  because  he  renounced  Mohamme- 
danism and  became  a  Christian,  and  who  died  trusting 
Christ  to  the  last  moment  of  life;  John  Williams,  one 
of  our  mission  boys,  Avho  did  good  service  for  four  years 
as  interpreter,  and  who  sent  for  the  mission  children  one 
evening  to  come  and  sing,  telling  them  as  soon  as  they  ar- 
rived that  he  would  go  to  be  with  Jesus  that  night,  and 
then  named  the  pieces  he  wished  them  to  sing,  but  died 
before  the  musical  programme  Avhich  he  had  arranged 
was  exhausted.  The  value  of  the  souls  saved  in  heaven, 
or  even  of  those  on  earth  saved  from  the  terrible  degra- 
dation of  African  heathenism,  cannot  be  represented  by 
figures,  such  as  appear  on  ordinary  balance-sheets.  I  am 
quite  certain  that  the  assets  of  Sherbro  mission  far  ex- 
ceed its  liabilities. 

"To  put  the  mission  on  a  less  expensive  basis  without 
causing  a  retrograde  movement,  or  injuring  our  good 
name  and  credit  in  that  country,  was  a  difTicult  work ; 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  IGl 

but  God  helped  us  to  do  it  successfully.  As  soon  as  I 
landed  there  the  last  time,  word  was  circulated  that  our 
mission  was  bankrupt,  and  I  had  come  out  to  close  up 
affairs.  By  putting  a  few  articles  in  the  Early  Dawn, 
explaining  affairs,  and  stating  that  we  soon  expected  to 
start  a  training-school,  the  mission  has  as  much  credit 
and  popularity  as  it  ever  had,  and  the  arrangement  to 
give  each  station  so  much  and  no  more,  will,  with  God's 
blessing,  enable  us  to  hold  the  ground,  and  go  forward 
slowly  at  least.'' 

Respecting  the  publication  of  the  papers  in  connection 
with  the  missions  in  Africa  and  Germany,  the  secretary's 
report  contained  the  following  :  "  The  Early  Dawn  print- 
ing office,  with  the  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  paid,  as  you 
directed  four  years  ago,  by  the  agent  of  the  printing 
establishment,  has  met  all  expenses.  The  paper  has  a 
circulation  of  about  two  hundred,  and  with  the  job  work 
done,  meets  expenses  of  publication,  and  is  rendering 
valuable  service.  All  in  all,  the  outlook  is  good  for  the 
future  in  that  dark  land,  if  we  can  give  our  work  reason- 
able support  there.  The  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
paid  to  Germany,  also  by  the  agent  of  the  printing 
establishment,  according  to  your  order  four  years  ago, 
enabled  the  brethren  there  to  commence  the  publication 
of  the  Heilisbote,  which  has  been'  a  success,  and  a  great 
help  to  our  cause  in  Germany.  It  has  a  circulation  of 
seven  hundred,  and  is  paying  all  expenses  of  publica- 
tion. Before  passing  from  this  field  of  labor,  permit  me 
to  call  to  your  minds  the  fact  that  it  becomes  more 
and  more  apparent,  as  the  years  come  and  go,  that  we 
are  operating  in  such  foreign  fields  as  we  are  adapted  to 
cultivate,  and  that  it  was  Avisely  ordered  by  Providence 
that  we  entered  the  ones  we  have.  Desirable  as  it  would 
be  to  have  other  foreign  fields,  we  had  better,  for  the 


162  HISTORY   OF   THE 

present,  push  vigorously  the  well-begun  work  we  have 
in  Africa  and  Germany,  and  not  attempt  others  until 
our  financial  resources  are  greatlj^  increased." 

The  following  is  also  from  the  secretary's  report  to  the 
General  Conference:  "The  Missionary  Visitor  ought  to 
be  conducted  in  the  future  as  in  the  past,  with  this 
single  exception,  namely,  one  half  of  the  profits  should 
go  into  the  missionar}^  treasury.  Had  the  General  Con- 
ference so  ordered  four  years  ago,  our  frontier  missiona- 
ries could  have  had  more  money  by  at  least  one  thousand 
dollars  annually,  which  they  ought  to  have  received. 
Since  I  am  the  onlj''  editor  the  Visitor  has  ever  had  in 
the  twenty  years  it  has  been  published,  and  have  often 
worked  hard  to  make  it  a  success  when  rest  would  have 
been  most  desirable,  and  since  I  am  pleading  for  the  half 
of  its  net  profits  to  go  toward  increasing  the  support  of 
our  poorly-paid,  hard-worked,  and  deserving  missiona- 
ries, rather  than  elsewhere,  I  surely  ought  not  be  blamed 
for  uttering  my  honest  convictions.  Then,  too,  there 
are  others  who  think  much  as  I  do  upon  this  same 
question." 

The  following  statement  respecting  church-erection  is 
also  from  the  same  report:  "It  was  my  purj)ose,  until 
quite  lately,  to  recommend  some  radical  changes  in  the 
constitution  of  this  society,  looking  toward  the  forma- 
tion of  a  separate  board,  with  the  necessary  officers  to 
manage  this  important  interest  of  the  Church.  The 
relation  of  church-erection  to  missions  is  such  as  to  make 
it  appropriate  for  one  board  to  control  both,  but  it  will 
not  likely  be  made  as  jDrosperous  this  way  as  if  there 
were  a  secretary  to  especially  look  after  church-erection, 
who  shall  devote  his  entire  time  to  its  interests.  In 
view,  however,  of  the  many  church  enterprises  greatly 
needing  money  at  present,  this  had  better  be  contin- 


UNITED    BRETIIRloN    MISSIONS.  163 

ued  for  the  next  four  years  as  it  has  been  in  the  past. 
With  the  assessment  of  an  amount  to  be  secured  by  the 
itinerants,  continued  as  it  ought  to  be,  and  a  general 
agent  who  shall  work  up  large  sums  for  church-erection 
and  missions,  as  already  recommended  in  this  report, 
church-erection  may  safely  be  left  with  the  Board  of 
Missions  and  its  officers  for  another  term.  Assessing  the 
conferences  for  church-erection  during  the  last  four  years, 
with  what  money  came  to  us  from  other  sources,  we  were 
able  to  aid  thirty-eight  societies  in  building  houses  of 
worship  during  the  term.  In  all,  since  the  organization 
of  this  society,  ninety-one  houses  of  worship  have  been 
erected  by  the  help  we  gave  them.  Though  this  is  less 
than  half  which  should  have  been  helped,  it  shows  that 
great  good  has  been  accomplished  by  comparatively  little 
effort  and  a  small  amount  of  money."  As  the  last  year 
was  the  most  eventful  of  any  in  the  history  of  the  society, 
and  surpassed  all  others  in  results,  much  space  and  large 
quotations  from  officers'  reports  are  given,  so  as  to  bring 
out  all  the  important  facts  connected  with  it. 

The  amounts  paid  during  the  four  years,  ending  May, 
1885,  are  as  follows  : 

African  Mission ?  60,185  77 

Arkansas  Valley  Conference 2,140  76 

California  2,944  91 

Colorado 2,658  63 

South  Missouri 1,260  35 

East  German •'•••  1,736  90 

Elkhorn  and  Dakota 3,077  06 

Fox  River  Conference 1,392  44 

Germany  District 9,506  77 

Kentucky 514  57 

Minnesota 2,332  45 

East  Nebraska 1,628  13 

Neosho ', Osage) 354  59 

North  Michigan 2,522  15 


164  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Ontario 959  25 

Ohio  German  (Toledo  Missloni 1,039  50 

Oregon 2,539  90 

Southern  Illinois 1,712  12 

Tennessee 2,821  78 

Virginia  (Freedmen) 389  33 

Walla  Walla  Conference  and  Cumese  Mission  3,499  79 

West  Kansas 3,821  25 

West  Nebraska 2,8.57  61 

Total , $111,896  01 

The  salary  paid  by  these  fields  to  their  missionaries  in 
addition  to  the  above  sums  from  the  missionary  treasury 
was  $77,279.42.  Home  missions  received  from  branch 
treasurers  and  gave  to  the  support  of  those  who  served 
them  in  the  four  years  $256,418.34,  making  a  grand  total 
for  home,  frontier,  and  foreign  missions,  of  $446,093.74. 


UNITED    BKETIIREN    MISSIONS.  1^ 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

From  1S85  to  18S9. 
New  secretary  and  treasurer-Foreign  bishops'  district-Reduced  ap- 
propriations-Changes in  Africa  and  Germany-The  work  continues 
to  prosper  in  Africa-Rufus  Clark  and  Wife  Theological  Trainmg- 
School-Desolating  war  in  Africa-Rapid  increase  of  members- 
Success  in  paying  missionary  debt-Prosperity  in  all  departments. 

The  thirty-third  annual  session  of  the  board  met  in  Roan- 
oke, Indiana,  May  14,  1886.     The  General  Conference  of 
1885,  believing  that  the  magnitude  of  the  work  across 
the  Atlantic  Ocean,  including  Africa,  Germany,  and  En- 
gland, the  last  as  a  place  to  get  money,  required  the 
whole  time  of  one  man  in  the  capacity  of  general  super- 
intendent, and  therefore  made  a  foreign  missionary  dis- 
trict, and  elected  D.  K.  Flickinger  to  said  office.     Dr. 
Warner  was  chosen  to  take  his  place  as  corresponding 
secretary.     Rev.  Wm.  McKee  was  elected  treasurer,  as 
the  successor  of  Rev.  J.  K.  BiUheimer.     Mr.  McKee  had 
been  the  treasurer  before,  from  1865  to  1873,  and  had, 
therefore,  valuable  experience  in  the  work  to  which  he 
was  again  called.     The  same  president  was  continued, 
but  two  other  men  were  elected  as  directors  of  the  board, 
it  retaining  all  who  were  members  of  it  before,  except 
these.     This  board  was  especially  charged  with  the  work 
of  liquidating  the  debt  of  the  society,  and  entered  upon 
this  duty  with  enthusiasm.     The  first  thing  to  be  done, 
and  which  the  former  board  and  officers  had  labored 
earnestly  with,  was  to  bring  the  society's  expenditures 
within  the  limits  of  its  receipts.     To  show  that  under 
the  circumstances  this  Avas  not  so  easily  done,  I  give  the 


166  HISTORY   OF   THE 

action  of  the  board  at  this  meeting,  which  was  also  its 
action  one  year  later,  with  the  change  that  the  sum  to 
be  raised  be  increased  from  fifty  to  sixty  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  that  four  energetic,  experienced  agents  be  ap- 
pointed, acting  under  the  direction  of  the  board,  to  raise 
said  sum  in  one  year.  The  report,  as  adojited,  is  as  fol- 
lows : 

"Your  committee  on  finance,  after  having  carefully 
considered  the  matter  of  the  indebtedness  of  the  mis- 
sionary society,  do  respectfully  recommend  the  follow- 
ing :  Notwithstanding  all  the  care  we  have  bestowed 
upon  the  matter  of  appropriations,  the  expenses  of  our 
society  have  exceeded  the  amount  of  money  received 
into  our  treasury,  thereby  causing  a  considerable  increase 
in  our  indebtedness.  This  result  we  greatly  deplore,  but 
it  has  been  simply  out  of  our  power  to  prevent  it,  with- 
out suspending  altogether  some  of  our  missions  upon 
which  we  have  already  expended  much  money,  and 
greatly  reducing  appropriations  to  others.  This  we  felt 
unwilling  to  do  unless  it  became  a  positive  necessity. 
This  necessity  we  feel  is  now  upon  us,  and  we  have  been 
compelled  to  adopt  a  system  of  retrenchment  and  cur- 
tailment which  will,  no  doubt,  be  seriously  felt  by  our 
faithful  missionaries,  but  we  hope  they  will  acquiesce 
in  the  necessity. 

"  In  order  to  meet  the  reduced  appropriations  of  the 
coming  year  as  well  as  liquidate  our  indebtedness,  we 
can  only  appeal  to  our  people — the  whole  of  our  people 
throughout  the  entire  Church — to  come  to  our  relief 
Let  us  bear  in  mind  that  for  all  the  money  expended 
God  has  graciously  given  us  many  souls.  Let  all,  then, 
give  to  the  extent  of  their  ability,  and  all  our  preachers 
especially  see  to  it  that  the  claims  of  our  society  are 
properly  presented   to   the  people,   and  all   the  money 


UNITED    13KETHREN    MISSIONS.  167 

secured  that  possibly  can  be.  We  recommend  that  a 
special  effort  be  made  to  secure  large  donations  by  special 
and  personal  efiforts,  and  that  the  missionary  secretary 
and  treasurer  spend  as  much  time  as  possible  in  work- 
ing up  this  matter. 

"  In  order  to  have  a  definite  and  well  understood  plan 
before  us,  we  recommend  that  an  effort  be  made  all  over 
the  Church  to  secure  within  the  ensuing  two  years  the 
sum  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  that  obligations  be 
taken  conditioned  so  that  these  notes  are  not  payable, 
unless  at  the  option  of  the  donor,  until  the  whole  of 
this  amount  shall  be  secured." 

The  reader  will  see  by  this  report,  passed  at  this  time 
and  reaffirmed  one  year  later,  that  these  new  men  found 
it  as  difficult  to  retrench  as  the  old  officers  did,  and 
made  no  better  progress  in  doing  so  until  there  was  ab- 
solutely no  other  way  left  to  them.  This  remark  is  not 
made  in  the  spirit  of  fault-finding,  but  to  show  that 
managers  of  mission  work,  who  are  made  to  see  and  feel 
the  great  demands  for  enlargement,  are  much  inclined 
to  attempt  more  than  the  means  at  their  disposal  war- 
rants. 

Under  the  circumstances,  it  was  thought  best  to  close 
out  the  business  carried  on  by  our  missionaries  in  Af- 
rica, as  the  mission  store,  with  warehouse  and  wharf, 
could  now  be  leased,  and  such  arrangements  made  as 
would  enable  the  missionaries  to  get  such  supplies  as 
were  needed  from  the  store  on  reasonable  terms.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  Shaingay,  the  headquarters  of  Sher- 
bro  mission,  is  sixty  miles  from  Freetown,  which  would 
be  the  point  at  which  all  trade  must  be  carried  on  unless 
there  was  a  mission  store.  As  tfiere  was" less  manual  la- 
bor to  do,  the  farm  being  fully  opened,  and  more  to  do 
in  the  schools  and  in  what  was,  properly  speaking,  real 


168  HISTORY   OF    THE 

mission  work,  it  was  well  to  look  towards  less  secular 
and  more  educational  and  spiritual  work.  In  this  there 
there  was  a  general  agreement  by  all  concerned.  Ac- 
cordingly, in  September,  Mr.  Flickinger,  at  the  request 
of  the  executive  committee,  sailed  for  Africa,  going  on  a 
sailing  vessel  again,  which  was  from  the  12th  of  Septem- 
ber until  the  6th  of  November  making  the  voyage, 
which  the  same  vessel  had  frequently  made  before  in 
from  thirty  to  thirty-five  days,  but  now,  owing  to  un- 
usual calms,  required  fifty-five  days.  The  day  Mr. 
Flickinger  reached  Freetown,  Rev.  Mr.  Sage,  being  in 
bad  health,  left  with  his  wife  on  a  steamer  for  the  United 
States.  Rev.  Mr.  Lesher  had  returned  in  July  for  the 
same  reason,  and  Mr.  Wilberforce  and  family  a  few 
months  before,  having  completed  five  years  in  Africa. 
The  only  American  missionaries  on  the  ground  were 
Messrs.  Evans  and  Gomer  and  wives.  Besides  closing 
out  the  business  of  the  Sherbro  mission,  for,  owing  to 
the  saw-mill  and  the  necessity  of  keeping  some  goods  in 
stock  to  buy  the  logs  and  supply  laborers,  it  could  not 
be  done  on  Mendi  mission  entirely.  Mr.  Flickinger  was 
charged  with  the  duty  of  putting  the  work  upon  a  basis 
that  would  not  require  over  eight  thousand  dollars  a 
year  above  what  the  American  Missionary  Association 
gave,  which  was  about  five  thousand  dollars.  He  at 
once  called  Mr.  Evans  from  Bonthc  to  Shaingay,  where 
he  and  the  above  named  missionaries  spent  a  whole  day 
in  council,  the  all-absorbing  question  being  how  to  keep 
the  work  from  retrograding  on  considerable  less  money 
than  it  had  received  for  the  last  few  years.  It  was  ar- 
ranged that  the  work  should  be  carried  on  for  ten  thou- 
sand dollars  a  year  from  .Janua^'y,  1.SS6,  to  January,  1888. 
This  was  not  to  include  the  -salary  and  traveling  ex- 
penses of  Mr.  Wilberforce,  in  case  he  was  returned  to 


UNITED   BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  Iti9 

ihat  country.  He  had  been  employed  lecturing,  preach- 
ing, and  in  the  meantime  reading  medicine.  During 
the  winter  he  attended  medical  lectures,  and  was  one  of 
the  best  students  in  the  medical  college. 

The  secretary,  Dr.  Warner,  in  his  report  of  the  African 
mission,  said:  "The  spiritual  results  of  our  work  in 
Africa  are  very  gratifying.  One  year  ago  there  were  re- 
ported 1,526  members;  this  year  we  report  2,629.  From 
them  we  can  select  the  men  who  are  to  redeem  the  peo- 
ple among  whom  we  are  laboring.  The  foreigner  cannot 
evangelize  Africa.  The  native  church  can  and  must  do 
it.  Strong  leaders  will  be  needed  for  years  perhaps,  but 
the  rank  and  file  of  the  Christian  workers  must  be  found 
among  the  members  of  the  native  church.  The  African 
mission  sustained  a  real  loss  in  the  death  of  Thomas 
Tucker,  the  oldest  convert  in  that  mission,  and  pastor 
at  Mo-Fuss.  He  died  September  13,  1SS5.  Among  his 
last  words  he  said,  'I  am  ready  to  die  and  go  to  reign 
with  my  Savior.  I  feel  that  God  is  with  me  all  the 
time.'  " 

As  Mr.  Flickinger  had  arranged  with  Dr.  Jones,-  of 
London,  the  secretary  of  the  Freedmen's  Missions  Aid 
Society,  to  be  with  him  at  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1886,  he  left  Africa  again  on  the  23d  of  December,  1885, 
and  reached  England  the  10th  of  January  following. 
The  secretary's  report  says  of  him :  '"  Bishop  Flickinger 
has  been  in  England  since  early  in  January.  While  in 
Africa  he  visited  all  our  stations,  held  the  annual  meet- 
ing, and  ordained  one  native  preacher.  This  visit  will 
have  a  good  influence  on  our  work  in  the  future,  I 
hope.''  He  gave  the  following  figures  a§  the  value  of 
our  property  in  Africa-  Sherbro  mission,  $9,368.80, 
Mendi  side,  $19,250,  total,  829,618.80.  The  Early  Dawn 
continued  to  be  published,  and  was  helping  our  cau?e  in 


170  HISTORY   OF   THE 

Africa,  though  it  made  scarcely  enough  to  pay  expenses 
of  publication.  The  following  extracts  from  the  secre- 
tary's report  respecting  Germany  will  be  sufficient  to 
show  how  the  work  has  succeeded  there  :  "  The  field  has 
passed  through  a  varied  experience  the  past  year.  Six 
months  ago  the  health  of  Rev.  J.  Sick  so  failed  that  he 
had  to  cease  active  work.  His  health  not  having  im- 
proved, he  has  been  compelled  to  retire  from  the  service 
of  the  board.  The  annual  meeting  was  held  by  Bishop 
Flickinger  April  21st.  The  present  memberchij:*  is  six 
hundred  and  thirty-eight.  By  an  arrangement,  subject 
to  the  approval  of  the  board.  Bishop  Flickinger  will  act 
as  presiding  elder  the  coming  year.  The  true  policy  for 
Germany,  I  think,  is  to  use  native  preachers,  with  a 
superintendent  from  the  United  States.  In  a  few  years 
the  whole  work  may  be  managed  by  natives.  A  small 
paper  has  been  published;  also  an  almanac,  four  thou- 
sand copies  of  which  were  sold.  While  our  missionaries 
are  subjected  to  many  petty  annoyances,  often  j^rompted 
by  ministers  of  the  state  church,  and  while  there  are 
legal  hindrances  to  our  work,  still  we  are  gaining  the 
confidence  and  esteem  of  the  people.  During  the  year. 
Rev.  C.  Bischoff,  the  founder  of  the  Germany  mission, 
died.  Being  a  man  of  property,  he  was  a  great  advan- 
tage to  our  work  as  treasurer  and  book-keeper.  God  is 
using  us  in  Germany  for  his  glory.  It  will  be  necessary 
for  the  board  to  find  a  capable  man  to  go  out  to  superin- 
tend the  work.  The  amount  paid  to  this  mission  the 
past  year  was  two  thousand  and  one  hundred  dollars. 
There  should  be  added  two  hundred  dollars.  Halls  in 
which  to  hold  service  must  be  rented,  which  increases 
our  expenses  there." 

The  frontier  missions  of  the  Church  during  the  year 
had  about  the  usual  success,  some  growing  rapidly,  some 


UNITED   BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  171 

slowly,  and  some  not  at  all,  Arkansas  Valley  increased 
in  all  essential  respects,  gaining  over  five  hundred  mem- 
bers. California  about  held  its  own.  East  Nebraska 
had  become  self-supporting,  and  was  doing  quite  well. 
Elkhorn,  which,  by  the  General  Conference  of  the  year 
before,  had  part  of  Dakota  Conference  added  to  it,  seemed 
to  have  new  life  infused  into  it.  Minnesota  had  some 
success,  though  there  were  difficulties  owing  to  severe 
cold  and  scarcity  of  laborers.  North  Michigan  reported 
some  growth,  but  less  than  in  some  former  years,  for  var- 
ious reasons.  Neosho  was  in  a  good  degree  successful, 
and  the  outlook  hopeful.  Ontario  had  a  good  year,  and 
prospects  were  brightening.  Oregon  had  very  little 
growth  and  the  future  was  not  promising.  Southern 
Missouri  did  well  compared  to  other  years,  but  the  pros- 
pects for  future  growth  were,  for  various  reasons,  not 
promising.  Tennessee  had  more  conversions  and  acces- 
sions to  the  Church  than  usual,  but  the  location  is  not 
goo-d  for  United  Brethren.  There  are  about  fifty  families 
of  United  Brethren  in  middle  Tennessee,  but  they  are 
more  than  two  hundred  miles  from  Tennessee  Confer- 
ence. Walla  Walla  had  a  healthy  growth,  with  a  good 
prospect  for  the  future.  The  Chinese  school  in  Walla 
Walla  City  had  extended  beyond  the  Chinese  population 
and  a  local  church  of  about  thirty  members  and  a  flour- 
ishing Sabbath-school  had  been  organized.  The  school 
did  well  among  the  Chinese,  and  the  board  was  very 
much  encouraged.  West  Kansas  made  quite  a  good 
deal  of  progress  in  the  year,  but  had  not  as  much  enter- 
prise as  it  should  have  had.  West  Nebraska  grew  rap- 
idly, and  made  in  several  respects  substantial  progress 
with  prospects  of  a  prosperous  future.  To  Wisconsin 
was  added  what  had  for  years  been  Fox  River  Confer- 
ence, and  although  the  progress  made  was  slow,  it  was 


172  IIISTOKV   OF    THE 

quite  up  to  its  previous  success,  with  some  favorable 
indications.  The  mission  districts  in  Kentucky  and 
Southern  Illinois,  as  in  other  3'ears,  had  a  number  of 
accessions  to  the  Church,  but  the  prospects  looking  to- 
ward permanent  growth  were  not  good.  Colorado  had  a 
more  prosperous  year.  An  effort  was  made  to  organize 
a  third  church  in  Denver,  but  failed.  The  other  city 
charges  and  .  portions  of  the  district  had  considerable 
success.  The  freedmen's  mission,  in  Virginia,  had  very 
limited  success,  and  prospects  were  not  good  for  more 
rapid  growth,  Toledo  German  mission  had  some  pros- 
perity, and  so  had  Philadelphia,  with  hopeful  omens  for 
future  growth.  A  new  mission  was  commenced  in  Des 
Moines,  Iowa,  which  had  a  good  year,  and  the  outlook 
for  the  future  was  excellent. 

The  Church-Erection  Society  had  a  prosperous  year, 
and  the  home  mission  department  of  the  Church  suc- 
ceeded well  also.  Failures  there  were  here  as  elsewhere, 
but  these  in  comparison  to  successes  were  few. 

The  thirty-fourth  annual  meeting  of  the  board  was  held  in 
Lagonda,  Ohio,  May  5,  1887,  This  closed  a  year  ever  to 
be  remembered  for  several  reasons.  The  death  of  Bishop 
Glossbrenner,  the  first  and  only  president  of  the  society, 
except  four  years  from  its  organization  in  1853,  had  oc- 
curred the  previous  January.  The  bishop  of  the  foreign 
district  had  reached  America  barely  in  time  to  attend 
the  previous  annual  meeting,  and  had,  during  his  stay 
in  this  country,  visited  a  few  places  in  the  East  in  the 
interest  of  the  Germany  chapel  fund.  He  in  this  way 
secured  about  one  thousand  dollars  for  this  interest. 
He  was  ready,  with  trunk  packed,  to  start  back  to  Eng- 
land to  assist  in  collecting  money  when  he  received  a 
letter  from  Mr.  Rufus  Clark,  of  Denver,  Colorado,  re- 
questing him  not  to  leave  until  the  fourth  of  August,  as 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  173 

on  that  day  an  important  case  was  to  be  decided,  which 
would  enable  him  to  give  five  thousand  dollars  for  the 
erection  of  a  training-school  in  Africa.  The  history  of 
this,  briefly  stated,  is  as  follows  :  Mr.  Flickinger,  as  sec- 
retary of  the  society,  was  called  to  Denver  some  years  be- 
fore, and  while  there  preached  and  lectured  on  Africa  in 
the  First  Church.  Mr.  Clark  became  interested  in  Af- 
rica, and  made  some  inquiries  about  its  wants.  Mr. 
Flickinger  told  him  it  had  many,  and,  among  the  press- 
ing ones,  a  training-school  in  which  native  teachers  and 
preachers  could  be  raised  up  to  teach  school  and  to  itin- 
erate, and  that  it  ought  to  be  established  soon.  Mr. 
Clark,  in  an  incidental  way,  remarked  that  it  would  be 
a  good  thing,  and  he  might  some  time  consider  its 
claims.  Rev.  W.  Rose,  who  was  pastor  there  at  the 
time,  and  who  did  a  great  and  good  work  afterward  in 
building  Smith  Chapel  and  parsonage  in  Denver  City, 
and  Mr.  Flickinger  took  Mr.  Clark's  remark  to  heart, 
and  from  that  day  until  the  9th  of  August,  1886,  when 
Mr.  Clark  paid  the  five  thousand  dollars  to  Mr.  Flick- 
inger in  Denver,  they  had  co-operated  to  get  that  money. 
Many  letters  had  been  exchanged  between  Mr.  Flickinger 
and  Mr.  Rose,  and  the  latter  sent  the  following  telegram 
to  Mr.  Flickinger,  which  said,  "  Come  get  the  money." 
So,  instead  of  leaving  his'  home,  Willoughby,  Ohio,  for 
England,  on  the  4th  of  August,  Mr.  Flickinger  left  for 
Denver,  and  on  the  eighth  he  again  preached  and  lec- 
tured on  Africa  in  that  city,  and  the  next  day  he  re- 
ceived a  check  for  five  thousand  dollars  and  sixty  dol- 
lars to  pay  cost  of  trip  from  Willoughby  to  Denver  and 
return.  On  his  way  back  he  stopped  to  see  Dr.  Rosen- 
berg in  Osage  City,  Kansas,  from  whom  he  got  six  hun- 
dred dollars  for  Germany  Chapel.  He  proceeded  to  Day- 
ton and  asked  the  executive  committee  to  appoint  Rev. 


174  HISTORY   OF   THE 

J.  M.  Lesher  to  go  to  Africa  the  next  month  to  com- 
mence building,  as  he  had  to  remain  in  England  until 
November.  Mr.  Clark  had  made  Mr.  Flickinger  responsi- 
ble for  the  erection  of  the  house  and  proper  expenditure 
of  money;  hence  he  wished  to  select  his  helpers,  which 
he  did,  leaving  the  money  with  the  missionary  treasurer 
to  be  paid  as  needed.  Accordingly,  on  the  18th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1886,  Rev.  J.  M.  Lesher,  with  Rev.  D.  F.  Wilber- 
force  and  family  and  Rev.  R.  N.  "West  and  wife,  the  last 
two  going  under  the  auspices  of  the  Woman's  Mission- 
ary Association,  sailed  from  New  York  to  Freetown  in  a 
sailing  vessel.  The  voyage  was  a  long  one,  and  it  was 
November  ere  they  reached  Africa,  and  Mr.  Lesher  did 
not  get  fairly  to  work  on  the  building  before  December. 
The  first  and  responsible  part  of  the  work  was  to  get 
materials  on  the  ground,  and  stone-masons  to  dress  the 
stone,  and  carpenters  to  do  the  preparatory  work  for  such 
a  building.  No  one  but  a  good  mechanic  could  well 
manage  the  native  workmen  or  even  the  best  mechanics 
there  so  as  to  get  a  serviceable  building.  Mr.  Lesher  was 
a  carpenter  before  he  became  a  preacher  and  missionary, 
and  hence  the  man  for  the  place.  When  Mr.  Flickinger 
reached  Africa  on  December  7th,  he  found  Mr,  Lesher 
had  a  large  force  of  men  at  work.  This  continued  until 
the  last  day  of  January,  1887,  when  the  corner-stone  was 
laid,  the  walls  having  been  commenced  before.  This 
building  is  sixty-six  by  thirty-one  feet,  three  stories 
high,  the  third  story  being  lighted  by  large  attic  win- 
dows in  the  roof  and  similar  windows  in  the  gable  ends. 
The  corner-stone  and  many  others  in  the  building  came 
from  the  walls  of  Mr.  John  Newton's  slave  pens  on 
Plantain  Island,  three  miles  from  Shaingay.  Surely  Mr. 
Newton,  at  one  time  a  cruel  slave-trader,  and  afterward 
a  celebrated  minister  of  the  gospel,  would  rejoice  with 


UNITED    BKETHREX    MISSIONS.  1~Q 

others,  were  he  still  on  earth  to  see  these  stones,  once 
used  to  promote  the  slave  trade,  now  in  the  walls  of  a 
house  in  which  to  train  men  and  women  to  work  for  the 
abolition  of  slavery  and  wickedness  of  every  kind  among 
the  degraded  tribes  of  West  Africa.  There  are  two  reci- 
tation rooms  of  fourteen  by  seventeen  feet,  and  a  chapel 
twenty-eight  by  thirty  feet  on  the  ground  floor;  and  on 
the  second  floor  there  are  ten  rooms,  each  large  enough 
to  accommodate  two  students,  in  which  to  lodge  and 
study.  The  third  story  will  accommodate  as  many 
more,  though  not  in  separate  apartments. 

Much  might  be  written  upon  the  details  of  erecting  this 
house  which  would  interest  the  reader,  but  it  must  suffice 
to  say  that  there  were  from  thirty  to  lift}'  men  employed 
who  completed  it  in  five  months.  The  stone  had  to  be 
quarried  on  islands  which  were  from  one  half  to  three 
miles  from  Shaingay,  then  loaded  into  boats  and  rowed 
to  the  mission  wharf,  then  carried  up  a  steep  bank  and 
put  on  the  mission  wagon  and  drawn  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
by  oxen  to  place  of  building,  then  dressed  and  placed 
in  the  wall.  Lumber  was  bought  here  and  there,  and 
brought  to  Shaingay  on  boats,  and  to  site  of  building  in 
same  manner  as  we  did  stone.  Considering  the  fact  that 
it  takes  three  native  workmen  to  be  equal  to  one  Ameri- 
can, and  in  many  things  one  American  is  equal  to  four 
of  them,  it  will  be  seen  that  to  erect  such  a  building  is 
no  child's  play.  But  for  the  good  supply  of  mission 
boats  received  from  Mendi  mission,  and  the  good  wagon, 
and  wharf  at  Shaingay,  for  procuring  which  Mr.  Gomer 
and  others  were  so  severely  criticised,  this  building 
could  not  have  been  erected  in  one  dry  season,  wdiich  of 
itself  would  have  been  a  great  misfortune,  and  cost  as 
much  more  money  as  was  paid  to  procure  the  wagon, 
and  building  of  whnrf,  wliich  are  still  very  serviceable. 


176  HISTOKY    OF    THE 

The  secretary,  Dr.  Warner,  said  in  his  report  to  this 
meeting  respecting  the  African  mission :  "  The  last  an- 
nual meeting  of  the  African  district  commenced  Decem- 
ber 17th,  and  was  one  of  the  very  best  in  our  history. 
Bishop  riickinger  presided.  Brother  and  Sister  West 
were  not  present  because  of  the  illness  of  the  former. 
The  influence  of  this  meeting  on  our  native  workers 
was  excellent.  Three  of  them  had  fallen  into  sin  dur- 
ing the  year  and  were  expelled.  This  enforcement  of 
discipline  made  a  deep  impression  upon  all.  There  are 
three  presiding  elder  districts,  Shaingay,  Mendi,  and 
Bompeh,  with  sixteen  mission  stations.  The  net  in- 
crease in  members  is  one  thousand  three  hundred  and 
eleven,  making  the  whole  number  three  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  forty.  During  the  year  a  number  of  our 
people  died,  leaving  a  clear,  strong  testimony  to  the 
power  of  divine  grace  to  sustain  them  in  their  last 
hour.  It  will  be  seen  by  reports  that  many  of  these 
enrolled  are  seekers,  but  this  does  not  mean  that  they 
have  not  been  converted,  for  many  of  them  have  been. 
Such  is  the  poverty  of  the  Sherbro  and  Mendi  dialects 
that  it  is  very  difficult  to  make  these  people  understand 
the  questions  in  the  discipline  which  applicants  are  re- 
quired to  answer  in  the  affirmative  before  they  can  be 
received  into  the  Church.  The  difficulty  is  not  in  the 
heart,  but  in  the  intellect.  How  to  overcome  this  is 
hard  to  solve.  The  number  of  towns  visited  the  past 
year  was  three  hundred  and  eight-seven,  an  increass  of 
eighty-four  over  the  previous  year.  There  is  no  egotism 
in  saying  that  we  are  doing  a  work  there  that  no  other 
church  has  done  up  to  this  time.  A  gentleman  of  intel- 
ligence, not  a  member  of  our  church,  visited  the  African 
coast  from  the  mouth  of  the  Congo  to  Freetown,  and  said 
the  reputation  of  our  mission  is  the  best  of  any  along  the 


UNITED    BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  177 

coast.    Is  this  true  ?    If  so,  we  owe  it  to  the  faithful  work 
of  our  missionaries." 

The  secretary  after  telling  of  the  building  of  Rufus 
Clark  and  Wife  Theological  Training-school,  says,  "  this 
school  was  opened  February  21, 1887,  with  three  students 
in  the  department  of  theology,  and  five  bright  boys  in 
the  primary  department."  This  was  an  epoch  of  interest 
in  the  African  work. 

The  following  resolutions  adopted  at  this  meeting  con- 
sidering the  previous  criticisms  of  some  who  voted  for 
them,  and  others  in  the  Church,  upon  the  management 
of  the  African  mission,  in  view  of  its  costing  so  much 
money,  are  suggestive,  and  in  place  here  : 

"Whereas,  Rev.  J.  Gomer,  superintendent  of  the 
Sherbro  mission  in  Africa,  and  Rev.  J.  A.  Evans,  super- 
intendent of  Mendi  mission  in  the  same  country,  have 
gone  forward  with  faithful  work  and  successful  efforts 
in  winning  souls,  and  building  up  the  kingdom  of 
our  Redeemer  in  the  midst  of  many  trials  and  afflic- 
tions, and  have  reported  from  time  to  time  how  the 
Lord  is  pouring  his  salvation  upon  the  people;  there- 
fore, 

"Resolved,  1.  That  we  give  thanks  to  God  for  the  pres- 
ervation of  their  lives  and  health,  and  the  lives  and 
health  of  their  families,  and  for  the  good  work  which, 
under  God,  they  have  performed. 

"2.  That  the  thanks  of  the  board  are  due,  and  are 
hereby  tendered  to  Mr.  Rufus  Clark  and  wife  of  Denver, 
Colorado,  for  their  generous  gift  of  $5,000  for  the  train- 
ing-school in  Africa. 

"3.  That  we  tender  to  Bishop  Flickinger  and  Rey. 
J.  M.  Lesher  the  sincere  thanks  of  the  board  for  their 
successful  management  of  the  erection  of  the  Clark 
Training-school  building.     We  are  also  glad  that  Rev. 


178  HISTORY    OF    THE 

D.  F.  Wilberforce  has  already  commenced  said  school 
with  flattering  prospects  of  success. 

"4.  That  we  appreciate  the  good  work  of  Rev.  R.  X. 
West  and  his  faithful  wife,  at  Rotufunk,  in  the  employ 
of  the  Woman's  Missionary  Association,  and  of  all  the 
good  and  faithful  laborers,  who  have  toiled  in  the  field 
with  these  missionaries,  and  with  those  men  and  women 
of  Sherbro  and  Mendi  missions  who  have  rendered  such 
efficient  help  in  the  work  of  God  during  the  past  year." 

The  following  from  the  report  of  the  secretary  con- 
cerning the  Germany  district  shows  the  results  of  the 
year's  work  there:  "This  work  has  made  no  strik- 
ing advancement  during  the  year.  Being  wholly  in  the 
hands  of  native  missionaries,  it  is  somewhat  difficult 
for  them  to  make  detailed  reports.  The  accounts  given 
of  their  work  in  the  paper  published  in  the  interest  of 
that  mission  are  quite  encouraging.  Two  churches  will 
be  built,  one  in  Apolda  and  the  other  in  GoUnow.  We 
need  a  superintendent  from  this  country  in  Germany. 
He  should  be  at  least  fairly  educated  in  the  German  lan- 
guage and  well  acquainted  with  the  history,  doctrines, 
and  usages  of  our  church.  The  Germany  mission  should 
be  pushed  with  as  much  energy  as  possible,  as  it  has 
compensations  that  our  other  foreign  work  cannot  have. 
Immigration  will  bring  some  of  the  people  converted 
there  to  this  country,  helping  our  German  work  at  home 
as  well  as  the  whole  denomination.  The  annual  meet- 
ing occurred  April  27th,  too  late  to  receive  their  annual 
report  in  time  for  this  meeting.  So  far  as  I  have  infor- 
mation, the  work  in  Germany  is  hopeful.  Bishop  Flick- 
inger  has  arranged  for  Rev.  J.  M.  Lesher  to  spend  some 
months  in  Germany,  to  aid  the  work  as  far  as  he  can.  I 
think  this  arrangement  a  good  one." 

The  frontier  missions  of  the  Church,  with  few  excep- 


UIS'ITED   BEETHKEN    MISSIONS.  179 

tions,  Avere  successful  during  the  year,  and  there  was  en- 
couraging advancement  made  in  a  number  of  the  mis- 
sion conferences.  Arkansas  Valley  continued  to  grow 
rapidly,  but  needed  much  more  money.  California  had 
some  revivals  and  built  two  new  church-houses.  The 
college  at  Woodbridge  did  well,  and  was  one  of  the  most 
promising  features  of  this  conference.  East  Nebraska 
Av.as  fairly  successful,  and  was  going  into  the  important 
towns  of  the  country.  Elkhorn  did  not  progress  much, 
and  its  condition  was  not  hopeful  for  the  future,  owing 
to  a  want  of  consecration  among  the  missionaries.  Min- 
nesota had  gracious  revivals  and  increased  her  member- 
ship, but  was  losing  by  people  leaving  it  for  warmer 
countries.  Neosho  ceased  to  be  a  mission  conference  in 
the  year.  In  North  Michigan  the  work  of  the  year  was 
not  as  promising  as  it  had  been  in  other  years,  there  be- 
ing some  difficulties  in  the  way  which  time  will  remove. 
Ontario  had  some  growth,  and  the  outlook  was  good  for 
the  future.  Oregon  met  with  but  little  success,  and 
there  was  but  little  prosj)ect  that  matters  would  improve 
soon.  South  Missouri  had  an  encouraging  increase  dur- 
ing the  year,  and  was  enlarging  its  sphere  of  operations. 
Tennessee  had  as  good  a  year,  if  not  better,  than  any  in 
its  previous  history.  Edwards  Academy  had  done  well, 
and  the  prospects  for  the  school  and  conference  were 
flattering.  The  work  succeeded  well  at  Walla  Walla,  in- 
cluding the  Chinese  school  in  Walla  Walla  City,  and 
Washington  Seminary.  West  Kansas  had  an  excellent 
year,  gaining  in  membership,  organizing  churches  in 
railroad  towns,  and  building  up  Gould  College.  West 
Nebraska  did  well  in  building  up  Gibbon  Collegiate  In- 
stitute, in  which  a  number  of  men  were  preparing  for 
the  ministry.  It  was  paying  attention  to  important 
towns.     The  outlook  was  good.     Wisconsin  Conference 


180  HISTORY   OF    THE 

was  extending  its  work,  and  several  large  towns  were 
occupied  during  the  year  for  the  first  time,  which,  with 
the  extensive  revival  of  religion  in  it,  made  the  outlook 
hopeful. 

The  Colorado  mission  district  built  one  new  house  of 
worship  during  the  year,  but  the  results  of  the  year  were 
not  encouraging.  It  is  a  difficult  field  to  cultivate,  for 
our  church  in  and  outside  of  Denver  has  been  of  slow 
growth  from  t'he  beginning.  Southern  Illinois  district 
had  a  good  year,  and  added  two  new  houses  of  worship, 
with  quite  a  number  of  accessions  to  the  Church.  Ken- 
tucky district  received  no  money  from  the  board,  and 
continued  to  do  but  little,  so  that  the  outlook  was  not 
flattering.  Upon  the  freedmen's  mission  in  Virginia 
the  membership  and  spiritual  condition  of  the  people 
had  increased.  Des  Moines  City  mission  received  aid 
from  the  board  during  the  je&x,  and  was  reasonably 
prosperous. 

Home  missions  had  a  reasonably  good  year,  and  also 
gained  in  membership  as.  rapidly  as  did  the  frontier  mis- 
sions of  the  Church.  The  year,  as  a  whole,  may  be  re- 
corded as  one  of  the  most  successful  of  the  society.  Es- 
pecially did  the  African  mission  succeed  well.  The 
large  increase  in  members  there,  erection  and  commence- 
ment of  Clark  Theological  Training-school,  and  the  suc- 
cessful work  done  by  Bomphe  mission,  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Woman's  Board,  with  plans  for  opening  a 
girl's  training-school,  and  in  other  respects  making  the 
work  there  more  effective,  altogether  made  Africa  a 
highly  encouraging  field  of  labor. 

The  thirty-fifth  annual  meeting  of  the  board  occurred  in 
Dayton,  Ohio,  May  10,  1888.  Dr.  Warner's  connection 
with  the  society  closed  in  August,  1887,  and  the  treas- 
urer, Rev.  Wm.  McKee  was  elected  acting  secretary,  and 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  181 

hence  he  made  the  report  at  this  time.  The  following 
extracts  from  this  report  show  the  result  of  the  year's 
work : 

"The  year  just  gone  has  been  fairly  successful.  "We 
have  had  some  reverses  and  apparent  misfortunes,  but 
our  missionaries  have  lived,  labored,  and  won  many 
souls  to  Christ.  It  is  with  a  sense  of  profound  sorrow 
that  I  am  called  on  to  record  the  death  of  Dr.  Warner, 
the  former  corresponding  secretary  of  this  board.  After 
leaving  the  office  of  secretary,  he  accepted  a  call  to  the 
pastorate  of  the  United  Brethren  Church,  at  Gibbon, 
Nebraska,  and  entered  upon  the  active  duties  of  his 
charge  with  enthusiasm  about  the  1st  of  November, 
1887.     He  died  the  latter  part  of  January. 

"Of  the  Sherbro  and  Mendi  missions  I  have  to  report 
continued  success.  I  do  not  mean  by  this  that  we  have 
the  figures  to  show  an  increased  membership,  for  there 
is  an  actual  loss ;  but  I  do  mean  to  show  that,  despite 
the  ravages  of  war  with  its  rapine,  murder,  conflagra- 
tions, and  general  demoralization  of  the  order,  and  pur- 
suits of  farming,  manufacturing,  mercantile,  educational, 
and  religious  agencies  of  the  country,  our  missionaries 
have  continued  at  their  posts  of  duty.  God  has  wonder- 
fully spared  their  lives  and  enabled  them  to  continue 
their  work.  It  is  true  some  of  our  stations  have  been 
captured,  the  towns  and  chapels  burned,  the  people  scat- 
tered—some of  them  killed  and  others  carried  ofif  into 
helpless  slavery— and  the  ministers  greatly  persecuted. 
Yet  it  can  be  truly  said,  'out  of  all  the  Lord  has  deliv- 
ered them.'  They  have  verified  the  experience  of  Paul 
in  their  own.  'We  are  troubled  on  every  side,  yet  not 
distressed;  we  are  perplexed,  but  not  in  despair;  perse- 
cuted, but  not  forsaken  ;  cast  down,  but  not  destroyed.'" 

The  following  detailed  account  from  Mr.  Gomer,  sent 


182  HISTORY    OF    THE 

three  months  before  the  annual  meeting,  will  show  the 
condition  of  Sherbro  mission  :  "  At  Shaingay  we  are  get- 
ting along  well,  spiritually,  as  well  as  temporally.  A 
few  of  our  members  have  gone  crooked,  and  have  given 
us  much  grief,  but  they  are  on  their  way  again  trying. 
At  the  close  of  the  year  Mr.  Wilberforce  resigned  the 
pastorate,  his  other  duties  being  very  hard  on  him. 
This  makes  it  hard  on  me,  as  the  out  stations  need  close 
attention.  At  Mannoh  the  school  has  not  opened  yet,  as 
the  teacher  is  a  war  witness  in  Freetown.  The  people 
there  hold  prayer  and  class  meetings  among  themselves, 
and  an  itinerant  from  Koolong  visits  them  occasion- 
ally. They  have  repaired  their  own  barra  and  mission 
residence,  and  cleaned  the  place  nicely.  At  Koolong  the 
outlook  is  very  good.  Mr.  J.  A.  Richards  is  in  charge. 
He  has  a  good  stafif  of  three  itinerants,  and  his  wife, 
David  Louding's  sister,  is  a  first-class  worker.  At 
N'Charmany  the  work  is  looking  up.  The  people  have 
repaired  their  own  barra  for  school  and  meetings,  and 
are  doing  well.  Tonkoloh  has  not  yet  got  over  the 
effects  of  the  war;  something  needs  to  be  done  to  stir 
up  the  people.  At  McCobo  there  should  be  a  mission 
house  and  a  barra.  I  believe  the  people  will  rebuild 
the  barra  themselves.  The  mi>ssion  ought  to  build  the 
house.  The  head  people  of  the  town  have  never  re- 
turned since  the  war.  Mo-Fuss  has  been  sadly  neglected. 
It  is  more  dead  than  alive;  but  it  is  our  fault  more  than 
their  own.  I  hope  to  get  the  right  thing  there.  Mambo 
is  doing  nobly.  The  people  have  rebuilt  their  chapel 
that  was  burned  by  the  war,  only  the  thatching  and  the 
doors  and  windows  remaining  to  be  done.  At  Rembee 
the  religious  interest  is  good.  The  people  have  taken  a 
fresh  start  since  the  war.  The  Lesher  school  at  Senehoo, 
with  its  branch  at  Cattah,  under  Mrs.  J.  Thompson,  is 


UKITED    BliETIIKEX  "MISSIONS.  183 

promising.  Since  the  close  of  the  war  we  have  been 
paying  special  attention  to  hunting  our  people.  Those 
taken  captive  are  still  returning,  while  many  will  never 
return,  having  been  sent  into  the  far  interior,  or  killed. 
In  the  secular  work  there  is  constant  demand  for  build- 
ing and  repairs.  I  am  obliged  to  keep  two  carpenters 
employed  nearly  all  the  time  on  our  boats,  canoes,  and 
houses.  All  this  means  boards,  timbers,  nails,  oakum, 
putty,  and  paint,  besides  the  carpenters.  All  the  school- 
teachers, and  tAvo  of  the  farmers,  itinerate.  I  am  con- 
stantly cautioning  the  itinerants  to  insist  that  there 
must  be  a  change  of  life  when  they  accept  of  Chris- 
tianity. All  country  fashion,  purrowism,  rum  and  gin 
drinking,  polygamy,  and  slavery  must  cease,  and  unless 
they  agree  to  this,  they  must  not  receive  them  as  seekers. 
Respecting  the  Clark  Theological  Training-school,  the 
following  from  its  principal.  Rev.  D.  F.  Wilberforce, 
to  the  acting  secretary,  shows  that  this  institution  of 
sacred  learning  was  looming  up  as  a  light-house  to  the 
"inland  wanderers,  beckoning  them  to  the  harbor  of 
safety  for  their  souls."  February  8,  1888,  he  wrote  as 
follows:  "Last  Monday,  February  6th,  was  a  day  long 
to  be  remembered  among  us.  It  was  the  occasion  of  the 
opening  of  the  training-school.  There  were  present,  as 
reJDresentatives  of  the  feompeh  Mission,  Rev.  Mr.  Sage 
and  wife,  from  Mendi  mission,  and  Rev.  J.  A.  Evans,  be- 
sides several  of  our  teachers  and  a  goodly  number  of  the 
Shaingay  people.  We  begin  this  year  with  three  stu- 
dents in  the  middle  class,  and  seven  passed  the  prelimi- 
nary examination  successfully  and  will  form  the  junior 
class.  Will  you  pray  that  this  grand  commencement  of 
work  may  continue  as  begun?"  Of  Mendi  mission, 
Rev.  Mr.  Evans,  who  had  charge,  wrote  as  follows  : 
"  The  year  commenced  with  a  prospect  of  an  unusually 


18-4  HISTORY    OF    THE 

large  ingathering,  in  spite  of  our  reluctance  to  admit 
persons  to  our  class  rolls;  but  the  later  war  troubles  on 
every  side  of  us,  although  our  territory  was  not  invaded 
to  any  great  extent,  hurt  our  work  in  various  ways.  A 
great  many  of  our  people  removed  from  Avery,  Danville, 
and  Konconany,  and  in  Mandoh  half  the  appointments, 
with  about  twenty  classes,  were  dropped  in  consequence 
of  not  having  sufficient  men  to  itinerate  that  field.  In 
short,  our  decrease  has  been  three  hundred  and  eighty- 
five  during  the  year,  chiefly  from  removals.  The  relig- 
ious interest  has  been  rather  better  than  in  past  years, 
as  there  has  been  more  revival  influence.  Our  buildings 
in  many  places  having  become  so  bad,  has  been  a  hin- 
drance to  religious  and  educational  work.  We  have  suf- 
fered for  want  of  books,  and  to  me  it  seems  almost  folly 
to  keep  teachers  when  they  have  no  books  to  teach  from. 
The  printing  office,  in  consequence  of  more  advertising 
in  the  Early  Dawn  and  the  reduced  price  of  material 
during  the  past  year,  shows  a  small  margin  of  receipts 
over  expenditures."  The  saw-mill  and  farm  at  Avery 
and  store  at  Bonthe  had  been  a  source  of  some  profit  to 
Mendi  mission,  and,  taken  all  in  all,  the  work  done  and 
and  outlook  Avere  quite  good.  The  Germany  mission 
district  made  quite  as  much  progress  during  the  year  as 
could  be  expected.  A  house  was  bought  in  Appolda, 
which  contains,  besides  a  hall  for  worship,  a  suite  of 
rooms  for  the  missionary  to  live  in,  and  others  which 
will  rent  so  as  to  pay  some  of  the  expenses  of  the  mis- 
sion. The  secretary's  report  to  the  board  stated  :  "They 
have  made  commendable  progress  during  the  year.  They 
have  not  been  persecuted  so  much  as  formerly.  Indeed, 
it  has  been  shown  repeatedly  that,  while  some  lower 
church  officials  and  petty  magistrates  have  been  ready 
enough  to  j)ersecute  our  ministers  and  to  fine  them  for 


UNITED   BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  185 

holding  meetings  for  worship  and  for  collecting  too 
many  people  in  a  hall  or  private  house  for  the  health 
or  safety  of  the  audiences  or  other  trifling  charges,  by 
means  of  which  they  were  able,  by  strained  interpreta- 
tions of  the  statutes,  to  bring  the  law  to  bear  against 
them.  Yet,  by  appealing  their  cases  to  the  higher 
courts,  they  have  been  immediately  acquitted,  and  in 
some  cases  fines  and  costs  incurred  in  lower  courts  have 
been  returned  and  the  judges  have  virtually  bade  them 
Godspeed  in  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  people.  The 
Heilisbote  is  paying  its  own  way  and  doing  an  excellent 
work  for  our  people.  What  the  Early  Dawn  is  to  Africa, 
the  Heilisbote  is  to  Germany  for  this  church.  The  con- 
stant cry  in  Germany,  in  view  of  the  great  destitution 
among  the  people,  is  more  laborers  and  more  money  to 
support  them." 

The  frontier  missions  during  the  year  had  about  the 
usual  prosperity,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  following :  On- 
tario made  steady,  healthy  progress  and  increased  its  net 
membership  and  Sunday-school  work  quite  a  good 
deal.  North  Michigan  also  made  commendable  advance- 
ment in  most  respects,  and  did  quite  well.  Wisconsin 
built  several  new  houses  of  worship  and  raised  more 
money  for  its  missionaries  and  other  church  purposes 
than  formerly,  and  gained  some  in  members.  Minne- 
sota had  good  revivals  and  large  accessions  to  the  Church 
at  some  points,  and  did  well  as  a  whole.  Concerning 
Elkhorn  and  Dakota,  the  secretary  said :  "  I  suggest 
that  the  board  consider  the  possibility  of  making  two 
districts  of  this  conference,  either  now  or  one,  year 
hence.  The  territory  is  important,  but  the  fields  are 
too  widely  scattered."  There  was  no  progress  during 
the  year.  Good  progress  was  made  in  Walla  Walla,  but 
more  men  and  money  were  greatly  needed.      The  Chi- 


186  HISTORY   OF    THE 

nese  school  in  Walla  Walla  City  did  not  prosper  during 
the  year  as  rapidly  as  previously.  Oregon  was  going 
backward  rather  than  forward,  though  Philomath  College 
was  doing  well.  There  were  valuable  accessions  to  the 
ministerial  force  in  California,  and  increased  success  of 
San  Joaquin  Valley  College,  making  the  outlook  favora- 
ble, though  there  was  little  growth  during  the  year.  In 
West  Nebraska  the  work  went  forward  well,  building 
new  churches  and  parsonages  and  increasing  the  mem- 
bership of  the  Church.  West  Kansas  had  a  very  pros- 
perous year,  but  lacked  laborers  to  do  all  the  work 
needed.  The  growth  of  Arkansas  Valley  continued 
rapid  and  permanent.  South  Missouri  made  commend- 
able progress,  and  prospects  were  brightening.  Ten- 
nessee did  well,  growing  in  territory  and  membership. 
It  sustained  great  loss  in  the  death  of  Prof.  D.  W.  Doran, 
who  was  doing  grandly  in  bringing  up  Edwards  Acad 
emy.  The  mission  districts,  viz.,  Kentucky  and  South- 
ern Illinois,  held  their  own,  and  the  latter  built  two 
church-houses  and  met  with  some  success  in  other  lines 
of  work. 

The  mission  to  the  freedmen,  in  Virginia,  during  the 
year  made  advancement  in  church  building,  gaining 
members,  and  gave  evidence  of  a  healthy  condition. 
The  Staunton  mission  in  Virginia,  to  which  the  board 
gave  a  small  appropriation,  was  also  succeeding  quite 
well.  The  Toledo,  Ohio,  and  Philadelphia,  Penn.,  mis- 
sions were  surrendered  by  the  board  to  the  conferences 
to  which  they  belonged,  and  also  Des  Moines  City  mis- 
sion with  a  small  appropriation.  The  East  Nebraska, 
Neosho,  and  Wisconsin  conferences  were  also  struck  off 
of  the  list  of  mission  conferences. 

The  secretary  said  nothing  respecting  home  missions 
in  his  report,  but  from  other  sources  the  fact  was  obtained 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  187 

that  they  had  a  good  year,  generally,  and  many  conver- 
sions to  God  and  accessions  to  the  Church  as  a  result  of 
their  labors. 

The  Church-Erection  Society  had  a  prosperous  year, 
in  the  sense  that  it  collected  and  distributed  more  money 
than  during  the  previous  year,  and  on  the  whole  the  out- 
look is  good. 

The  Missionary  Visitor  continued  to  do  well.  One  of 
the  encouraging  features  of  the  year's  work  was  the  suc- 
cess which  attended  the  efforts  to  pay  the  debt  of  the 
society.  When  the  board  met  there  had  been  collected 
in  cash  $18,546.06,  and  secured  also  additional  in  notes 
S19,780.91 ;  total,  $38,326.97.  During  the  year  the  avails 
of  the  Avery  fund,  which  were  to  cease  at  this  time, 
were  secured  for  another  year.  This  being  nearly  five 
thousand  dollars  annually,  was  a  great  relief  to  the 
society. 

The  thirty-sixth  annual  meeting  of  the  board  occurred 
May  7,  1889,  in  Chambersburg,  Pennsylvania,  two  days 
before  the  General  Conference  met  in  York,  same  State. 
The  year  had  been  a  very  eventful  as  well  as  a  successful 
one.  The  executive  committee  had  employed  Dr.  B.  F. 
Booth  as  assistant  corresponding  secretary  of  the  society, 
Rev.  Wm.  McKee,  the  treasurer,  having  been  acting  sec- 
retary ever  since  Dr.  "Warner's  connection  with  the  board 
ceased  in  1887.  This  being  the  end  of  the  quadrennium, 
at  which  time  the  ofl&cers  of  the  society  make  both  annual 
and  quadrennial  reports,  which  are  prepared  with  great 
care,  the  following  extracts  from  them  contain  all  that  is 
necessary  to  be  said  respecting  the  progress  made  and 
condition  of  work  at  this  time  : 

"  Our  missions  in  Africa  have  lost  none  of  their  inter- 
est during  the  quadrennium.  The  membership  has  in- 
creased from  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  forty-four 


188  HISTORY   OF    THE 

to  four  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty.  We  have 
been  hindered  by  war  and  the  lack  of  means  to  carry  on 
the  work  as  rapidly  as  the  way  seemed  open  for  us ;  but 
still  the  Lord  has  given  his  faithful  laborers  a  good  de- 
gree of  success  in  winning  souls. 

''Rev.  J.  Gomer  has  had  the  entire  management  of  the 
Sherbro  missions,  as  he  had  for  a  number  of  years  previ- 
ously. Rev.  J.  A.  Evans  has  also  had  the  management 
of  the  Mendi  missions.  For  six  years  the  American 
Missionary  Association  allowed  us  the  use  of  the  Avery 
fund, — five  thousand  dollars  annually, — but  this  was 
withdrawn  January  1,  1889.  This  act  of  generosity  and 
confidence  reposed  in  us,  as  a  board  and  as  a  church,  by 
one  of  the  ablest  and  most  active  missionary  boards  in 
the  country,  and  approved  by  the  Congregational  de- 
nomination, should  be  heartily  appreciated  by  us ;  and 
the  chief  way  to  show  our  appreciation  is  to  prosecute 
the  mission  work  among  the  Mendi  tribes  with  a  vigor 
and  heartiness  worthy  of  the  successors  of  the  Rev. 
George  Thompson,  Mr.  Burton,  and  others  who  founded 
and  labored  long  and  hard  to  build  up  these  missions^ 
This  is  all  the  remuneration  the  American  Missionary 
Association  asks,  and  it  is  the  best  return  we  can  make 
to  them,  to  the  Mendi  tribes,  and  to  the  Lord  of  missions. 
The  annual  report  shows  that  we  have  several  valuable 
properties  and  a  wide  field  for  missionary  labor  among 
the  Mendi  people. 

"It  ought  to  commend  itself  to  our  observation  and 
greatly  strengthen  our  hope  in  the  future  of  Africa  that 
our  superintendents  have  employed  so  many  of  the  na- 
tives, and,  by  their  help,  have  been  enabled  to  accom- 
plish so  much.  I  have  no  doubt  that  God  intends  to 
save  Africa  chiefly  through  the  instrumentality  of  Afri- 
can laborers.    The  ill  health  and  return  of  the  American 


UNITED   BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  189 

missionaries  have  made  it  necessary  to  employ  more  na- 
tive helpers,  and  the  work  done  by  these  is  an  earnest  of 
the  great  things  we  may  hojDe  for  in  the  way  of  enlarged 
usefulness  by  them  in  the  future.  All  that  can  be  done 
by  foreign  missionaries  toward  the  evangelization  of  two 
hundred  and  ten  millions  of  souls  on  that  great  conti- 
nent is  to  deposit  the  leaven  of  the  gospel.  The  Afri- 
cans themselves  must  furnish  the  host  of  laborers  nec- 
essary to  accomplish  so  vast  a  work. 

"  Through  the  beneficence  of  Mr.  Rufus  Clark  ana  wife, 
of  Denver,  Colorado,  who  contributed  five  thousand  dol- 
lars for  the  erection  of  a  school  building,  we  now  have  at 
Shaingay  a  fine  stone  edifice,  which,  as  an  academy  of 
sacred  learning,  will  not  only  be  a  most  valuable  monu- 
ment to  the  memory  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Clark,  but  a  last- 
ing benefaction  to  the  numerous  tribes  of  West  Africa. 
Rev.  D.  F.  Wilberforce  opened  school  in  the  new  build- 
ing February  2,  1887.  At  first  there  were  three  students 
in  the  department  of  theology  and  five  in  the  primary 
department.  Now  Mr.  Wilberforce  reports  the  follow- 
ing: Middle  class,  three  students;  junior  class,  seven 
students;  preparatory  class,  two  students.  This  makes 
twelve  students  in  the  training-school  at  the  end  of  the 
second  year.  This  indicates  that  the  school  will  soon  be 
filled  with  students  anxious  to  secure  the  best  possible 
training  for  the  work  of  evangelists." 

Respecting  the  Early  Datvn,  the  report  said :  "  This 
paper  is  published  at  Bonthe,  British  Sherbro,  by  Mr. 
Evans.  It  is  now  in  its  sixth  volume,  and,  as  its  name 
indicates,  is  performing  an  important  part  in  driving 
away  the  darkness  of  a  long  night  of  ignorance,  super- 
stition, and  suffering,  and  ushering  in  a  day  of  deliver- 
ance from  the  thralldom  of  idolatry.  So  far  the  pub- 
lisher has  succeeded  in  making  the  Early  Dawn  support 


190  HISTORY   OF    THE 

itself;  at  the  same  time  it  is  doing  much  to  teach  the 
people  how  to  live  as  civilized  beings  and  how  to  earn  a 
livelihood." 

The  following  resolutions,  taken  from  the  minutes  of 
this  meeting,  so  fully  explain  themselves  that  they  are 
inserted  without  comment  or  introduction  : 

"  Whereas,  Rev.  J.  Gomer  and  his  wife  have  returned 
in  safety  to  America  after  an  absence  of  seven  years 
spent  in  earnest  missionary  labors  in  West  Africa ;  and, 

"Whereas,  Brother  Gomer  has  for  many  years  been 
our  trusted  and  honored  superintendent  of  missions  in 
West  Africa,  and  discharged  his  duties  with  great  fidel- 
ity and  skill;  therefore, 

^^  Resolved,  1.  That  we  render  thanks  to  the  Lord  of 
missions  for  preserving  their  lives  and  permitting  them 
to  return  to  us  in  health  and  peace  to  sit  in  the  counsels 
of  this  board  meeting,  and  to  attend  the  General  Confer- 
ence. 

''  2.  That  we  hereby  express  to  them  our  hearty  thanks 
for  their  earnest  and  successful  labors,  and  our  willing- 
ness to  continue  them  in  this  blessed  service  for  time  to 
come. 

''  3.  That  the  thanks  of  this  board  are  due,  and  hereby 
tendered,  to  Bishop  Flickinger  for  his  diligence  and 
faithfulness  in  the  superintendency  of  our  foreign  mis- 
sions during  the  last  quadrennium. 

*'  4.  That  this  board  hereby  expresses  its  confidence  in 
the  work  of  Rev.  J.  A.  Evans,  of  the  Mendi  missions, 
and  of  Rev.  D.  F.  Wilberforce,  principal  of  the  Clark 
Theological  Training-school  at  Shaingay,  and  Sprays  the 
blessing  of  God  upon  them  and  their  work  in  the  years 
to  come." 

"Whereas,  Bishop  Flickinger  and  others  report  that 
industrial  schools  for  the  training  of  the  boys  and  girls  in 


UNITED    I5RKTIli;i:X    MLSSIONS.  191 

Africa  are  an  important  factor  in  lifting  the  people  from 
a  state  of  barbarism  to  that  of  Christian  civilization; 
therefore, 

"  Resolved,  That  we  look  with  favor  on  the  plan  of  es- 
tablishing such  schools  in  Africa  in  the  near  future." 

Dr.  Hott,  then  editor  of  the  Religious  Telescope,  who  was 
at  one  time  treasurer  of  the  missionary  society  and  well 
acquainted  with  its  work  and  workers  for  twenty  years, 
was  present  at  this  meeting,  and  in  the  report  he  made 
to  his  paper  appeared  the  following  ; 

"That  veteran  missionary  of  Africa,  Rev.  Joseph  Go- 
mer,  just  home  from  that  far-off  land,  was  present.  He 
comes  like  a  battle-scarred  soldier  of  Jesus.  It  is  almost 
nineteen  years  since  he,  with  his  faithful  wife,  went  out 
to  that  dark  land.  On  the  first  of  December,  1870,  they 
started  for  Africa,  and  landed  in  Sierra  Leone,  January 
10,  1871.  He  at  once  began  to  inaugurate  the  system  of 
itinerant  labor  among  the  people  of  the  towns  and  vil- 
lages who  had  not  heard  of  Jesus.  Since  that  time  he 
has  only  twice  visited  our  country.  In  1876  he  was 
asked  to  return  to  America  for  a  season  of  rest,  and  after 
some  months  he  again  returned  to  Africa,  and  continued 
to  labor  there  until  1882,  when  he  again  visited  America 
for  a  short  season  of  rest.  He  then  arranged  his  affairs 
for  a  long  service  in  Africa,  and  apparently  with  the  in- 
tention to  live  and  die  there.  For  seven  years  he  has  la- 
bored incessantly  in  that  terrible  climate,  and  amid  the 
perils  of  disease  and  dreadful  war.  Now  he  is  home  for 
a  season  of  rest  after  these  toils  of  long  years.  On  the 
twentieth  of  next  July  he  will  be  fifty-five  years  of  age. 
He  has  lost  some  of  his  flesh  and  has  grown  not  a  little 
gray.  On  Sabbath  morning  he  preached  in  Trinity 
Church,  Lebanon,  Pennsylvania.,  and  on  Monday  night 
he  gave  a  magic-lantern  view  of  the  scenes  of  our  mis- 


192  HISTORY    OF    THE 

sions  in  Africa,  which  was  intensely  interesting  and  in- 
structive. He  is  looked  on  with  deep  interest  by  all. 
God  has  wonderfully  spared  and  blessed  his  life. 

"  Bishop  Flickinger  is  also  fresh  from  Germany  and  Af- 
rica. He  is  in  good  health  and,  though  just  home  from 
his  eleventh  visit  to  Africa,  he  is  as  fresh  and  vigorous 
as  in  the  years  gone  by.  He  has  crossed  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  twenty-two  times,  but  often  by  the  long  route  by 
way  of  England,  making  an  equivalent  of  not  less  than 
thirty  crossings  of  the  ocean.  He  has  stood  in  the  front 
of  our  mission  work  as  a  church  thirty-two  years,  for  it 
is  now  thirty-two  years  since  he  was  first  chosen  corre- 
sponding secretary  of  our  missionary  society;  and  in 
this  work  he  has  labored  unceasingly  through  this  long 
stretch  of  years.  Two  years  before  his  entering  upon 
the  secretaryship  he  had  gone  to  Africa  in  the  first  com- 
pany of  foreign  missionaries  our  church  ever  sent  out. 
Eternity  alone  will  unfold  the  wonderful  results  of  his 
toil.   The  Church  will  warmly  welcome  him  home  again." 

The  work  in  Germany,  owing  to  many  hindrances,  did 
not  succeed  as  well  as  in  former  years.  It  is  true,  how- 
ever, that  the  outlook  is  good  for  more  rapid  growth  in 
the  future,  provided  that  field  is  properly  cultivated. 
The  following,  from  the  secretary's  report,  presents  it 
correctly : 

"Our  mission  work  in  Germany  goes  on  as  well  and 
rapidly  as  could  be  expected  with  the  money  expended 
and  the  number  of  missionaries  employed.  Rev.  J.  Sick 
was,  on  account  of  ill  health,  obliged  to  return  to  Amer- 
ica early  in  the  quadrennium,  thus  leaving  our  work  en- 
tirely in  the  hands  of  native  ministers,  except  the  atten- 
tion given  to  it  by  Bishop  Flickinger.  Owing  to  the 
absence  of  other  American  ministers,  he  has  devoted 
considerable  time  and  attention  to  that  field. 


UNITED   BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  193 

"  The  donation  of  Mrs.  M.  S.  Bischoff  of  ten  thousand 
dollars,  the  interest  of  which  is  to  go  to  the  Germany 
missions  perpetually,  unless  overruled  by  the  courts, 
and  the  securing  of  several  houses  of  worship  through 
help  obtained  from  the  now  sainted  Dr.  Rosenberg,  of 
Kansas,  and  others  in  America,  has  imparted  a  degree  of 
solidity  and  hope  to  our  Germany  missions  greater  than, 
ever  before  entertained, 

"  The  Heilisbote  is  edited  and  published  at  Coburg  by 
Rev.  S.  Barkemeyer.  The  paper  pays  its  own  way,  and 
is  an  invaluable  aid  in  the  prosecution  of  our  work. 
One  or  two  American  ministers  should  be  sent  to  this 
mission  at  an  early  day." 

The  following  taken  from  the  secretary's  report  repre- 
sents the  progress  made  in  the  frontier  and  home  de- 
partments : 

"  At  the  close  of  the  last  quadrennium  we  had  on  our 
list  fourteen  mission  conferences  and  four  mission  dis- 
tricts. Of  these,  Dakota  district  was  transferred  to  Elk- 
horn  and  Dakota  Mission  Conference.  Fox  River  was 
transferred  to  Wisconsin  Conference,  and  East  Nebraska, 
Neosho,  and  Wisconsin  conferences,  by  order  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference,  were  made  self-supporting  during  the 
quadrennium.  They  have  had  no  appropriation  for  the 
past  two  years.  The  past  year  they  have  all  sent  the 
one  fifth  of  their  missionary  collections  to  the  parent 
board.  Tennessee  has  also  been  left,  by  its  own  con- 
sent, without  an  appropriation  the  past  year.  This 
leaves  eleven  mission  conferences  to  be  supported  in 
part  by  the  Board  of  Missions,  viz. :  Ontario,  North  Mich- 
igan, Minnesota,  Elkhorn  and  Dakota,  West  Nebraska, 
Walla  Walla,  Oregon,  California,  West  Kansas,  Arkan- 
sas Valley,  and  Southern  Missouri,  and  three  mission 
districts,  viz. :  Colorado,  Southern  Illinois,  and  Kentucky. 
13 


194  HISTORY   OF   THE 

"Seven  of  these  conferences,  viz.,  Ontario,  North  Mich- 
igan, Minnesota,  Walla  Walla,  California,  Southern  Mis- 
souri, and  Tennessee,  have  made  creditable,  if  not  rapid 
progress;  not  a  great  gain,  though  every  one  of  them 
has  increased  somewhat  in  membership.  Southern  Mis- 
souri and  Tennessee  have  increased  their  membership 
during  the  quadrennium  about  fifty  per  cent;  Walla 
Walla,  eighty-five  per  cent;  North  Michigan,  Minnesota, 
and  California  have  added  about  ten  per  cent  to  their 
membership ;  but  the  meeting-houses  and  parsonages 
these  conferences  have  built,  the  salaries  paid  their 
ministers,  the  missionary  money  collected,  the  num- 
ber and  efl&ciency  of  their  Sabbath-schools,  indicate 
commendable  progress. 

"Arkansas  Valley,  West  Kansas,  and  West  Nebraska 
conferences,  which  may  be  regarded  as  located  directly 
in  the  United  Brethren  zone,  have  made  rapid  and  solid 
progress.  West  Nebraska  has  gained  in  membership 
about  fifty  per  cent.  West  Kansas  sixty-two  per  cent, 
and  Arkansas  Valley  one  hundred  and  fifteen  per  cent. 
West  Nebraska,  though  it  has  not  increased  so  rapidly 
in  church  membership  as  the  other  two,  has  done  most 
effective  work  in  church  building,  paying  the  ministers, 
collecting  missionary  money,  etc.  These  three  confer- 
ences are  destined  at  no  distant  day  to  take  rank  with 
the  strongest  in  the  denomination, 

"  Of  Elkhorn  and  Dakota,  and  Oregon  conferences,  I 
cannot  speak  so  hopefully.  Dakota  district  was  too  far 
away  to  help,  or  be  helped  by  the  union;  and  so  the 
work  has  been  separated  and  fragmentary,  which,  with 
the  lack  of  a  sufficient  number  of  consecrated  laborers, 
has  so  crippled  it  that  it  has  actually  sixty-seven  less 
members  than  it  reported  in  1885. 

"Oregon  Conference  reported,  in  1884,  eight  hundred 


UNITED   BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  .195 

and  seventy-four  members;  in  1888,  eight  hundred  and 
ninety-one,  a  gain  of  seventeen  members.  Of  the  causes 
of  this  slow  growth  it  is  needless  here  to  speak.  It  is 
enough  to  say  that  some  internal  strife  and  a  lack  of  a 
sufficient  number  of  unreserved  itinerants  appear  to  be 
the  chief  causes  of  failure.  However,  the  accession  of 
three  or  four  active  laborers  from  the  eastern  conferences 
during  the  last  year,  and  the  revival  reports  we  have 
had,  indicate  that  a  more  hopeful  day  has  dawned  on 
Oregon. 

"  Southern  Missouri  Conference  has  added  about  sixty 
per  cent  to  its  membership,  and  is  doing  quite  effective 
work  in  various  ways.  It  has  a  wide  field,  and  it  is  be- 
lieved it  will  soon  become  a  strong  conference. 

"Colorado  district  has  gained  one  hundred  and  thirteen 
members  in  the  term,  and  reported  a  membership,  at  the 
last  conference,  of  four  hundred  and  ten.  This  is  a  diffi- 
cult field  to  Avork.  We  have  sent  several  ministers  to 
the  district  during  the  term,  but,  owing  to  sickness  and 
other  causes  —  some  of  them  not  well  defined  —  it  has 
been  hard  to  keep  them  in  the  field.  A  number  of  ex- 
cellent ministers  are  at  work  there  now,  and  the  prospect 
for  the  future  is  more  encouraging  than  it  has  been  for  a 
number  of  years. 

"Kentucky  and  Southern  Illinois  districts  have  re- 
mained at  about  the  same  mark.  The  board  has  made 
no  appropriation  to  Kentucky  for  three  years.  They 
have  managed  to  support  themselves.  To  Southern 
Illinois  we  have  made  light  appropriations  each  year. 
I  think  the  chief  difficulty  in  both  districts  is  the  fact 
that  we  have  been  working  in  the  out-of-the-way  local- 
ities, and  while  we  have  accomplished  good  in  bringing 
souls  to  Christ,  other  churches  have  very  largely  reaped 
the  fruit  of  our  labors. 


196  HISTORY   OF   THE 

"  Walla  Walla  Chinese  Mission  was  commenced  by- 
Walla  Walla  Conference  in  1884;  in  1885  the  board 
resolved  to  take  hold  and  help  it  on.  Rev.  C.  W. 
Wells  has  served  it  three  years,  and  Rev.  C.  C.  Bell 
one  year.  The  mission  has  had  a  good  degree  of  suc- 
cess. A  number  of  Chinamen  have  found  the  pearl  of 
great  price,  and  many  are  anxious  to  acquire  a  knowl- 
edge of  our  language,  manners,  civilization,  and  religion. 

"  The  freedmen's  work  in  Virginia,  under  the  care  of 
Rev.  T.  K.  Clifford,  is  moving  along  quite  well.  He  is  a 
good  and  worthy  man,  willingly  devoting  his  time  and 
energies  to  his  calling.  While  our  people  there  are 
mostly  poor,  many  of  them  are  securing  homes  for 
themselves,  and  will  be  able  after  a  while  to  support 
their  own  pastor.  They  love  the  Church  and  are  pious 
Christians.  They  claim  to  have  a  good  opportunity  to 
build  a  church  house  in  Jonesborough  and  to  build  up  a 
good  society.  As  this  is  the  only  work  we  have  among 
the  freedmen,  it  should  be  well  cared  for  and  sustained, 
if  we  would  have  any  just  claim  to  interest  in  the  col- 
ored race  as  a  church,  and  show  our  love  for  people  so 
greatly  oppressed  and  wronged  in  the  past.  The  mis- 
sion has  five  classes,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty-eight 
members. 

*'  In  the  home  field,  under  the  control  of  the  confer- 
ences, there  are  about  three  hundred  and  forty-six  mis- 
sionaries employed,  with  an  average  salary  of  $287.48. 

"Home  missions  supported  in  part  by  the  board  are 
located  in  Staunton,  Virginia,  and  Buffalo,  New  York. 
In  both  these  cities  good  church-property  has  been  se- 
cured, and  the  work  has  gone  forward  well. 

"The  missionary  money  of  the  Church  is  spent  in 
about  the  ratio  following : 

"  To  the  home  field,  forty-five  per  cent. 


UNITED   BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  197 

"  To  the  frontier  field,  forty  per  cent. 

"To  the  foreign  field,  fifteen  per  cent. 

"  The  work  of  liquidating  the  missionary  debt  has  been 
pressed  steadily  on,  with  a  marked  degree  of  success. 
One  year  ago  there  was  reported  as  secured  in  cash  col- 
lections on  the  debt  of  $60,000,  $16,675.54.  We  report  as 
having  been  paid  the  year  past  in  cash  $23,842.23,  mak- 
ing a  total  to  date  of  $40,517.77.  This  shows  that  in- 
terest in  the  full  payment  of  the  debt  has  not  ceased 
throughout  the  Church,  but  that  there  is  an  intense 
anxiety  to  see  the  last  cent  wiped  from  our  records. 
Numerous  citations  from  communications  all  over  the 
Church  might  here  be  given  to  show  that  there  is  a  large 
class  of  ministers,  laymen,  and  outside  friends  who  do 
not  intend  to  cease  paying  on  the  debt  until  it  is  fully 
canceled.  It  needs  to  be  kept  before  the  people  and 
urged  actively  until  this  much  desired  end  is  reached. 
We  recommend  that  thank-offerings,  to  be  applied  on 
the  debt  until  it  is  all  paid,  be  taken  up  during  the 
time  of  the  national  Thanksgiving,  in  the  month  of 
November,  the  Sabbaths  before  and  after  being  the  ap- 
pointed time,  with  the  intervening  days  or  the  Sabbaths 
nearest  that  time,  that  the  several  pastors  can  devote 
to  mission  thanksgiving  services;  and  that  after  the 
debt  is  paid,  from  year  to  year,  this  be  the  chosen  time 
for  such  services  and  offerings  for  missions. 

"  The  collections  for  missions  in  the  quadrennium  are 
unprecedented  in  the  history  of  our  church,  and  the 
more  remarkable  as  the  term  has  been  a  period  of  transi- 
tion and  no  small  amount  of  confusion  and  strife  in 
many  places  among  us. 

"  The  whole  amount  of  contributions  received  by  the 
parent  board  for  the  quadrennium  is  $309,496.60. 

"This  is  a  showing  for  which  we  should  be  grateful  to 


198  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Almighty  God,  through  whose  grace  alone  we  have  been 
able  to  accomplish  this  cheering  result. 

"  The  Missionary  Visitor  has  been  issued  regularly  and 
seems  to  have  given  fair  satisfaction  to  our  people.  Dur- 
ing the  first  two  years  of  the  quadrennium,  under  the 
editorial  control  of  Dr.  Warner,  it  was  received  with 
special  marks  of  favor  and  appreciation.  It  is  not  the 
easiest  thing  to  give  satisfaction  to  all  in  a  paper  designed 
both  for  the  Sunday-school  and  the  missionary  society ; 
and  yet  the  Missionary  Visitor  has  held  its  own  remark- 
ably well  with  the  Children's  Friend.'' 

The  report  further  says  the  Church-Erection  Society, 
in  comparison  with  what  it  did  in  preceding  quadren- 
niums,  did  fairly  well  during  the  past  four  years ;  but, 
on  considering  the  vastness  of  the  work  to  be  done,  the 
urgent  calls  for  help,  and  the  ability  of  the  Church  to 
render  aid,  our  work  is  so  little  as  to  humble  the  board 
and  the  whole  Church.  However,  the  treasurer's  figures 
show  that  a  good  and  noble  work  has  been  accomplished. 
In  the  sixteen  years  preceding  1885,  the  society  had  col- 
lected $20,374.98 ,  and  in  the  past  four  years  it  has  col- 
lected 812,325.39  in  new  funds.  About  two  fifths  of  this 
was  in  bequests.  From  1865  to  1885  there  were  seventy- 
five  houses  aided  in  their  construction ;  in  the  four  years 
just  gone  the  society  aided  sixty-nine  houses — in  all,  one 
hundred  and  forty-four. 

The  facts  brought  out  in  these  reports,  with  the  table 
of  figures  to  follow,  show  that  God's  blessing  has  been 
bestowed  upon  the  mission  work  of  the  Church  in  rich 
measure.  The  first  and  second  quadrennial  reports  showed 
this  conclusively,  as  have  all  the  succeeding  ones.  The 
last  shows  a  remarkable  spirit  of  liberality  in  giving 
money  to  pay  the  mission  debt,  and  to  continue  ttie  good 
work  so  well  begun  in  Africa,  Germany,  and  America  in 


UNITED    BRP:TJIKEN    iMLSSlUXS.  199 

an  enlarged  and  more  vigorous  manner  than  ever  before. 
The  last  thirty-six  years  have  been  glorious  in  results  in 
the  department  of  missions,  Sunday-schools,  education, 
publishing  interests,  and  increase  of  members  in  the 
Church  of  the  United  Brethren  in  Christ. 

Before  closing  this  chapter  it  would  be  well  to  call  to 
mind  how  wonderfully  God  has  favored  our  society  in 
bringing  to  it  financial  help  from  sources  outside  of  the 
United  Brethren  Church.  During  the  last  seven  years, 
the  American  Missionary  Association,  of  New  York  City, 
has  given  us  nearly  $39,000,  including  $9,600  for  the 
steamer  John  Brown.  The  Freedmen's  Missions  Aid 
Society,  of  London,  England,  has  paid  us  about  $13,000. 
Dr.  J.  Gwynne  Jones,  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  last- 
named  society,  has  been  a  fast  friend  of  our  African  work, 
and  not  only  has  done  all  he  could  to  secure  for  us  this 
help,  but  assures  us  that  more  is  to  follow.  Dr.  M.  E. 
Strieby,  secretary  of  the  New  York  association,  through 
whose  influence  our  society  was  so  generously  aided,  as 
well  as  Mr.  H.  W.  Hubbard,  the  treasurer  of  the  associa- 
tion, have  been  and  still  are  true  friends  of  our  cause. 
Rev.  George  Whipple,  who  was  the  secretary,  and  Mr.  L. 
Tappan,  who  was  treasurer  of  the  American  Missionary 
Association,  when  our  first  company  went  to  Africa  in 
1855,  were  very  kind  to  them,  and  in  this  respect  the 
officers  of  the  association  have  followed  in  their  foot- 
steps ever  since.  Both  the  New  York  and  London  asso- 
ciations have  placed  the  United  Brethren  Church  under 
many  obligations  to  them.  Their  help  in  time  of  great 
need  was  providential,  and  ought  to  call  forth  our  sin- 
cere gratitude  both  to  them  and  to  the  God  of  missions. 

In  addition  to  these  large  sums,  which  were  especially 
given  to  Africa,  Mr.  Rufus  Clark  and  wife,  of  Denver, 
Colorado,  gave  $5,000  for  the  training-school  of  Africa, 


200  HISTORY   OF    THE 

and  Mrs.  Bischoflf  (deceased)  gave  the  society  $10,000 

for  missions  in  Germany.  Thus,  in  ways  very  wonder- 
ful, God  has  helped  us  to  over  $65,000  for  the  foreign 
mission  work  of  the  Church.  Without  this  aid,  the  suc- 
cess we  have  had  could  not  have  been  achieved. 

The  following  table  shows  the  amount  expended  for 
the  four  years  ending  May,  1889 : 

Africa $    62,209  89 

Germany 8,880  60 

Walla  Walla  Chinese  Mission 1,524  96 

Arkansas  Valley  Mission  Conference 2,298  91 

Colorado  Mission  District 3,326  79 

Elkhorn  and  Dakota  Conference 2,028  04 

California  Mission  Conference 3,036  43 

Oregon  Mission  Conference 2,256  79 

Walla  Walla  Mission  Conference 3,064  08 

West  Nebraska  Mission  Conference 2,666  76 

West  Kansas  Mission  Conference 3,135  56 

Minnesota  Mission  Conference 1,660  15 

East  Nebraska  Mission  Conference 305  45 

South  Missouri  Mission  Conference 1,540  15 

North  Michigan  Mission  Conference 1,635  95 

Ontario  Mission  Conference 937  69 

Neosho  Mission  Conference 47  47 

Wisconsin  Mission  Conference..... 650  59 

Tennessee  Mission  Conference 1,929  89 

Virginia  Freedmen's  Mission 443  88 

Southern  Illinois  Mission  District 770  55 

Philadelphia  Mission 542  59 

Des  Moines  (Iowa)  Mission 300  00 

Kentucky  Mission  District 159  48 

Buffalo  (New  York)  Mission 200  00 

Staunton  (Virginia)  Mission 175  00 

Kearney  (Nebraska)  Mission 40  00 

Indian  Missions 75  00 

Toledo  (Ohio)  Mission.. 375  00 

In  support  of  Remmie  Caulker  in  Africa 657  49 

Home  missionaries,  from  branch  treasurers..  97,110  39 

Paid  by  missions  as  salary 250,922  98 

Total  during  the  four  years $454,908  51 

Number  of  missionaries  employed 346 

Average  salary  paid  them $287  48 


UNITED    BKETHKKN    MISSIONS.  201 

BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    REV.    WILLIAM    M'KEE. 

Rev.  William  McKee  was  born  in  Fairfield  County, 
Ohio,  February  20,  1831,  and  when  twelve  years  of  age 
moved  to  Blackford  County,  Indiana.     From  that  time 
up  to  eighteen  years  of  age  he  learned  how  to  clear  the 
forests,  dig  ditches,  make  rails,  chop  wood,  plow,  ride  the 
wildest  horses,  and  do  all  kinds  of  farm  work.     This 
part  of  his  training  gave  him  a  body  which,  for  strength 
and  endurance  under  hard  tasks,  has  few  equals.     He 
had  received  a  good  education  in  the  common  schools  of 
Ohio,  for  one  of  his  age,  when  he   left  the  State,  and 
when  twent3'-two  years  old   he  finished  at  a  seminary 
in   Marion,  Indiana.      At  the  age  of    twenty-three   he 
was  converted,  and  a  few  weeks  afterward  united  with 
the  church.     His  parents  were  members  of  the  regular 
Baptist  Church,  but  for  various  reasons  he  preferred  to 
belong  to  the  Church  of  the  United  Brethren  in  Christ, 
to  which  he  has  given  thirty-three  years  of  efficient  ser- 
vice as  a  minister  of  the  gospel.     At  twenty-four  years  of 
age  he  was  married  and  engaged  in  school  teaching  for  a 
time.     In  1855  he  received  quarterly  conference  license 
to  preach,  and   in  1856  he  was  received  into  Auglaize 
Annual  Conference,  commencing  his  itinerant  life  the 
following  year.     After  three  years  of   circuit  work,  he 
was  elected  presiding  elder,  in  which  office  he  has  served, 
at  one  time  and  another,  eighteen  years.     In  1863  and 
1864  he  was   a   missionary   to   the   freedmen,  laboring 
with  great  acceptability  and  success,  both  as  preacher 
and  teacher,   in  Vicksburg  and  at  Davis'  Bend,  Missis- 
sippi.    In  1865  he  was  elected  missionary  treasurer,  in 
which  position  he  served  for  eight  years.     The  reason 
for  his  not  being  continued  was  that  the  majority  of  the 
General  Conference  thought  he  was  not  as  radical  as  he 
should  be  on  the  secrecy  question.     Owing  to  the  mis- 


202  HISTORY   OF   THE 

sionary  society's  debt,  and  inability  to  pay  full  salary, 
Mr.  McKee  was  in  charge  of  a  field  of  labor  during  six 
years  of  the  eight  in  which  he  was  treasurer  the  first 
time.  At  the  General  Conference  of  1885  he  was  again 
elected  to  this  office,  and  re-elected  in  1889.  Respecting 
his  preaching,  and  his  work  as  treasurer,  the  follow- 
ing extract  taken  from  the  York  Daily,  which  published 
the  proceedings  of  the  General  Conference,  held  in  York, 
Pennsylvania,  last  May,  presents  the  case  as  fairly  as 
possible  in  the  brief  space  which  can  be  given  here : 
"He  is  a  man  of  vigorous  physical  powers,  is  a  good 
preacher,  and  has  rare  ability  as  a  financier.  It  is 
now  four  years  since  he  was  elected  to  his  present  po- 
sition, though  he  previously  served  his  church  in  the 
saine  office  eight  years.  During  the  past  four  years  Mr. 
McKee's  efforts  to  pay  off  the  Church  missionary  debt, 
amounting  to  sixty  thousand  dollars,  have  resulted  in 
securing  nearly  fifty  thousand  dollars,  leaving  but  ten 
thousand  yet  to  be  provided  to  cancel  the  debt.  This 
has  been  the  result,  in  a  large  measure,  of  his  wise  man- 
agement of  the  society's  affairs  that  have  been  entrusted 
to  him.  His  efforts  have  been  much  apj^reciated  by  his 
church,  and  he  has,  as  he  deserves,  their  gratitude  and 
esteem."  Mr.  McKee  has  represented  his  conference  in 
General  Conference  at  six  different  times,  and  served  as 
the  trustee  of  our  printing  establishment  and  Otterbein 
University  a  term  of  years.  He  is  a  ready  and  able  de- 
bater and  writer.  His  numerous  and  pointed  articles 
published  in  the  Religious  Telescope  and  the  Missionary 
Visitor,  and  his  addresses  upon  missionary  and  church- 
erection  interests,  will  long  be  remembered  by  many. 
As  he  is  but  little  past  fifty-eight  years  of  age,  and  bids 
fair  to  do  effective  labor  for  another  decade,  at  least, 
he  will  doubtless  continue  to  speak  and  write  for  the 


B.  F.  Booth. 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  203 

enlightenment  of  the  Church  upon  missions  and  kindred 
interests.  May  many  hearts  and  purses  be  thus  reached, 
and  much  money  secured.  Mr.  McKee  has  been  married 
twice,  and  is  the  father  of  four  living  children. 

BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH    OP    REV.  B.  F.  BOOTH,  D.  D. 

Benjamin  Franklin  Booth  was  born  July  4,  1839,  in 
Holmes  County,  Ohio.  He  was  a  twin,  and  his  brother 
was  called  William  Penn.  The  parents,  Edwin  Booth 
and  Sarah  Metcalf,  were  of  English  origin  and  raised 
under  Quaker  influences.  The  father  was  among  the 
first  anti-slavery  advocates,  and  lived  to  see  the  system 
of  slavery  perish.  His  home  for  a  long  time  was  a  sta- 
tion on  the  underground  railway,  and  the  son  spent 
more  than  one  night  in  assisting  fugitives  toward  the 
north  star.  There  were  ten  children  born  to  these  pa- 
rents. Of  the  six  sons,  one  died  while  president  of  a 
college,  three  were  physicians,  one  a  farmer,  and  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  has  been  a  minister  of  the  gospel 
for  nearly  thirty  years.  He  was  converted  February  14, 
1858,  and  united  with  the  Baptist  Church,  and  in  1860, 
Avithout  his  request,  was  licensed  to  preach.  Though  he 
preached  frequently,  he  never  accepted  a  charge  while  a 
Baptist,  owing  to  a  want  of  harmony  with  some  of  the 
doctrines  and  practices  of  that  church.  In  January, 
1863,  he  was  received  on  his  credentials  into  the  min- 
istry of  the  Church  of  the  United  Brethren  in  Christ, 
and  from  that  date  until  now  he  has  been  an  active  and 
efficient  worker  in  the  Church. 

He  was  elected  presiding  elder  for  twelve  successive 
years  by  the  Muskingum  Conference,  of  which  he  has 
been  a  member,  and  retained  on  one  station  for  six  years. 
He  has  been  trustee  of  Otterbein  University  for  nineteen 
years,  and  president  of  the  board  for  four  years.     He  has 


204  HISTORY   OF   THE 

been  trustee  of  Union  Biblical  Seminary  for  eight  years, 
and  is  at  this  time  president  of  its  board.  Numerous 
articles  written  by  him,  of  a  highly  interesting  and  in- 
structive character,  have  appeared  from  time  to  time  in 
the  last  twenty  years  in  church  papers  and  other  period- 
icals. He  has  also  been  a  member  of  five  successive 
General  Conferences. 

He  had  the  degree  of  D.  D.  given  him  by  both  Otter- 
bein  University  and  Lebanon  Valley  College  in  June, 
1887.  In  August,  1888,  he  was  chosen  assistant  mission- 
ary secretary,  and  at  the  General  Conference  of  1889  he 
was  elected  to  the  office  of  corresponding  secretary  of 
the  missionary  society.  He  has  been  married  twice,  and 
has  six  children  living  and  one  dead.  As  he  has  just 
entered  upon  his  fifty-first  year,  his  prospects  are  good  for 
many  years  of  service  yet  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord. 

Being  in  the  prime  of  life,  with  antecedents  of  a 
highly  commendable  character,  and  now  called  to  a 
position  which  will  give  him  ample  scope  for  the  exer- 
cise of  all  his  gifts  and  graces.  Dr.  Booth  has  a  brilliant 
prospect  before  him.  As  editor  of  the  Missionary  Visitor 
and  contributor  to  the  columns  of  other  periodicals  of 
the  Church,  and  as  a  preacher  and  lecturer,  he  is  destined 
to  exert  a  great  influence  in  the  Church,  if  his  life  be 
spared.  Circumstances  have  so  changed  that  the  secre- 
tary of  the  missionary  society  does  not  spend  as  much 
time  in  doing  outside  work  as  formerly,  which  will  en- 
able him  to  more  carefully  and  efficiently  attend  to  the 
duties  of  the  office  than  his  predecessors  did.  With  his 
ability,  energy,  and  well-informed  mind,  upon  the  ques- 
tion of  Christian  missions,  he  will  speak  and  write  much 
that  our  people  ought  to  know  respecting  the  moral  con- 
dition of  the  world  and  their  duty  toward  those  who  are 
without  the  light  of  the  gospel. 


•UNITED   BPETHRKN   MISSIONS.  205 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Woman's  Missionary  Association  —  Preliminary  remarks  —  Its  begin- 
ning—  Its  mission  fields —  Its  prosperity. 

The  following  extracts  from  a  history  of  the  Woman's 
Missionary  Association,  published  by  that  body  a  short 
time  ago,  so  clearly  and  concisely  set  forth  the  remark- 
able success  of  the  organization,  that  nothing  more  of 
what  could  be  justly  said  in  this  respect  need  be  added 
to  show  that  this  society  has  upon  it  the  seal  of  God's 
approval. 

Without  flattery  to  the  association,  or  censure  to  the 
parent  society,  it  can  be  said  that  the  women,  in  some 
respects,  manage  their  interests  more  wisely  than  the 
men.  Their  annual  meetings  are  much  more  interest- 
ing and  profitable  than  those  of  the  parent  board.  In 
1872  the  older  body  held  a  meeting  similar  to  those  of 
the  Woman's  Missionary  Association,  which  was  very 
successful,  but  was  objected  to  on  account  of  the  expense 
consequent  upon  the  attendance  of  so  many  speakers 
and  delegates.  It  is  true  it  costs  the  women  a  great  deal 
to  have  such  large  delegations,  but  the  return  is  five-fold. 
However,  intending  neither  to  flatter  nor  censure,  we 
will  make  no  further  comparisons. 

Wise  management  and  grand  results  must  be  accorded 
to  this  association.  Its  managers  have  shown  great  skill 
in  collecting  money,  and  much  wisdom  in  expending  it. 
Its  mission  fields  have  been  wisely  chosen  and  success- 
fully worked.  Under  its  present  management  it  will 
continue  to  do  great  things  for  God's  cause. 


206  HISTOUY    OF    THE 

The  originator  of  this  organization,  Miss  Lizzie  Hofif- 
man  (now  Mrs.  Derrickson),  has  given  the  following  ac- 
count of  her  experience.  Miss  HofFman,  at  the  time  of 
the  events  described  below,  lived  a  few  miles  north  of 
Dayton,  Ohio : 

"The  beginning  of  my  call  to  missionary  work  was  a 
desire  for  a  deeper  work  of  grace  in  my  own  heart. 
There  was  a  burden  on  my  heart.  I  took  it  to  our  Bur- 
den Bearer  in  prayer,  and  the  answer  Avas  a  question, 
^Are  you  willing  to  go  to  Africa?'  I  felt  unqualified. 
The  Lord's  answer  to  Moses  came.  Thus  I  labored  on 
for  over  one  year.  I  sometimes  felt  as  if  I  could  not  en- 
dure the  weight.  One  evening  I  took  my  Bible,  my  best 
instructor,  and  read  and  prayed  in  my  little  room,  deter- 
mined to  conquer  or  die  in  the  attempt.  It  was  near  the 
dawn  of  day  when  the  Angel  of  the  Lord  rolled  the  bur- 
den off  my  poor  heart.  Abraham  was  not  required  to 
slay  Isaac — only  to  become  willing.  I  said  calmly  and 
peacefully,  '  Lord,  use  me  as  seemeth  to  thee  good.'  Soon 
there  was  a  prompting  in  my  heart  that  the  women  of 
our  church  should  be  organized  for  active  and  special 
work  for  missions. '  The  duty  became  imperative.  I  re- 
vealed the  fact  to  Father  John  Kemp.  He  at  once  be- 
came interested,  and  visited  the  most  active  workers  in 
Dayton,  and  prayed  and  planned  until  he  succeeded  in 
calling  the  meeting  for  the  organization  of  the  women  of 
Miami  Conference." 

Prominent  men  and  women  met  at  Summit  Street 
Church,  and  spent  a  day  and  an  evening  in  consulta- 
tion. A  woman's  organization  was  effected  for  Miami 
Conference,  May  9, 1872.  The  following  preamble  to  the 
constitution  then  adopted  is  of  interest : 

"  Believing  that  the  promulgation  of  the  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ  throughout  the  world  depends  upon  the  sue- 


UNITED   BKETllKEN    MISSIONS.  207 

cess  of  Christian  missions,  and  that  the  responsibility  of 
this  success  devolves  upon  all  Christians,  we  therefore 
do,  in  obedience  to  the  command  of  our  risen  Lord  and 
Savior,  '  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel 
to  every  creature,'  in  convention  assembled,  in  the  city 
of  Dayton,  in  the  name  of  our  Divine  Master,  and 
moved,  we  trust,  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  organize  ourselves 
into  a  missionary  association." 

A  number  of  auxiliaries  were  organized  in  the  confer- 
ence. Money  to  the  amount  of  $328.13  was  collected,  but 
no  mission  work  was  undertaken.  It  was  expected  at 
this  time  that  other  conferences  would  organize.  Noth- 
ing was  done,  however.  For  want  of  an  object,  all  but 
two  of  the  societies  of  Miami  Conference  ceased  to  work. 
These  two  were  discouraged.  A  meeting  was  called  in 
the  First  Church  to  consider  the  question  of  issuing  a 
call  for  a  general  meeting.  Six  ladies  responded  to  the 
call.  Some  timid,  faint-hearted  ones  suggested  that 
they  could  not  work  as  the  women  of  some  of  the  sister 
denominations,  and  if  they  undertook  it,  there  would 
be  responsibility,  and  certain  failure.  Sister  Sow- 
ers repeated  after  each  one  of  these,  "  They  cannot  do 
our  work.  If  God  calls,  dare  we  falter?"  All  felt  that 
God  did  call,  and  agreed  to  take  steps  toward  a  general 
organization.  The  missionary  treasurer.  Rev.  J.  W. 
Hott,  and  the  missionary  secretary,  Rev.  D.  K.  Flickin- 
ger,  urged  the  matter  in  private  and  through  the  press. 
The  General  Board  of  the  Church  had  recommended 
such  an  organization.  Mrs.  Hadley,  returning  from 
Africa,  pressed  the  project.  Everything  pointed  to  it  as 
a  duty,  and  hence  the  following  call  was  made : 

"  For  the  purpose  of  creating  a  greater  interest  and 
zeal  in  the  cause  of  missions,  and  laboring  more  directly 
in  the  work  of  the  Divine  Master  by  bringing  into  more 


208  HISTORY    OF   THE 

active  and  efficient  service  the  sisters  of  the  Church,  a 
call  is  made  for  a  woman's  missionary  convention,  to 
meet  in  Dayton,  Ohio,  October  21,  1875." 

The  call  was  answered  by  the  following  conferences : 
Miami,  Scioto,  Sandusky,  Michigan,  Indiana,  Western 
Reserve,  Lower  "Wabash,  Virginia,  and  Allegheny.  Sev- 
eral other  conferences  appointed  delegates,  who  sent  let- 
ters of  encouragement.  Two  days  were  spent  in  faithful, 
prayerful  work.  A  constitution  that  had  been  pre- 
viously published,  was  discussed,  amended,  and  adopted, 
and  the  "  Woman's  Missionary  Association  of  the  United 
Brethren  in  Christ "  was  organized  by  the  election  of  the 
following  officers:  President,  Mrs.  T.  N.  Sowers;  vice- 
presidents,  Mrs  Z.  A.  Colestock,  Mrs.  M.  H.  Bridgeman, 
Mrs.  S.  Haywood;  corresponding  secretary,  Mrs.  L.  R. 
Keister ;  recording  secretary,  Mrs.  D.  L.  Rike ;  treasurer, 
Mrs.  W.  J.  Shuey. 

By  the  terms  of  the  constitution,  the  association  is 
under  the  direction  of  the  General  Conference,  and  sub- 
mits quadrennial  reports  to  that  body.  But  in  the  elec- 
tion of  officers,  and  in  general  management,  it  is  inde- 
pendent. 

At  the  meeting  in  May,  1876,  Mrs.  A.  L.  Billheimer, 
having  returned  from  mission  work  in  Africa,  added 
new  life  to  the  meeting.  It  was  determined  to  venture 
out  and  undertake  some  work,  which  assumed  definite 
shape  when  Mrs.  Billheimer  moved  "that  the  funds  now 
in  the  treasury  be  used  for  the  founding  and  support  of 
a  mission  school  in  Africa." 

The  first  idea  was  to  support  a  school  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  missionaries  of  the  General  Board,  near  Shain- 
gay.  But  instead  of  this,  by  the  advice  of  the  officers  of 
the  General  Board  and  the  missionaries  then  in  the  field, 
it  was  decided  to  establish  schools  up  the  Bompeh  River, 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  209 

in  a  thickly  populated  territory  that  was  calling  for  light, 
and  was  without  any  missionary  work.  The  mission  was 
located  at  Rotufunk,  on  the  Bompeh  River,  about 'fifty 
miles  east  of  Freetown.  Miss  Beeken  went  to  Rotufunk 
late  in  the  autumn  of  1877. 

The  pioneer  work  was  difficult,  but  it  was  bravely  ac- 
complished. The  headman  built  a  barra  for  worship, 
and  the  association  a  mud  house  for  the  missionary,  near 
the  town.  Miss  Beeken  established  two  schools,  and  had 
public  services  in  surrounding  towns.  She  made  an  ur- 
gent request  for  a  large  bell  for  the  station.  Through  the 
solicitation  of  Mrs.  Sowers,  Mr.  John  Dodds  gave  one; 
and  as  the  ringing  of  the  bell  from  old  Independence 
Hall,  on  the  morning  of  our  nation's  birth  to  freedom, 
said  more  plainly  than  words  could  tell,  that  all  men  are 
born  free  and  equal,  so  this  bell  proclaims  liberty  to  the 
captives,  and  the  striking  off  of  the  shackles  of  sin  that 
so  long  have  bound  them. 

Miss  Beeken  was  succeeded  at  the  end  of  nineteen 
months  by  Mrs.  M.  M.  Mair,  of  Glasgow,  Scotland.  She 
landed  at  Freetown,  October  19,  1879,  and  went  to  Rotu- 
funk the  following  month.  The  previous  May,  at  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  association,  it  was  agreed  to  send 
to  Africa  from  this  country  the  material  for  a  good  house. 
Two  thousand  dollars  was  raised,  and  Mrs.  Mair  superin- 
tended the  construction  of  the  building,  and  enjoyed  liv- 
ing in  it,  as  she  so  well  deserved.  She  was  indefatigable 
in  her  labors,  and  her  influence  over  the  natives  was  won- 
derful. She  corroborated  Dr.  Flickinger's  report,  that  of  all 
dark  places  in  Africa  Rotufunk  was  the  blackest.  Rotu- 
funk was  a  station  for  slave  traders  when  the  mission 
was  located  there ;  but  before  Mrs.  Mair  came  away,  this 
was  broken  up.  A  deed  was  received  for  one  hundred 
and  fifty  acres  of  ground  at  Rotufunk. 


210  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Early  in  1882  the  association  was  warned  of  the  declin- 
ing strength  of  Mrs.  Mair,  and  began  to  look  for  reinforce- 
ment. It  was  determined  to  send  a  man  and  his  wife. 
Rev.  R.  N.  West  and  Miss  Lida  Miller,  students  in  Union 
Biblical  Seminary,  were  chosen.  They  were  married  in 
the  summer,  and  sailed  from  New  York  October  2,  1882, 
arriving  at  Freetown  December  3d.  Mrs.  Mair  remained 
a  few  months,  and  then  came  home.  Her  presence  at 
the  annual  meeting  at  Westerville  added  new  interest  to 
the  work.  Here  the  committee  on  African  work  recom- 
mended the  raising  of  two  thousand  dollars,  for  the 
erection  of  a  suitable  chapel.  This  amount  was  secured, 
and  a  neat,  substantial  structure  was  built.  The  main 
room  was  forty-two  by  twenty-eight  feet.  For  two  Sab- 
baths the  house  was  crowded,  and  then  the  war  came, 
and  that  dreaded  disease,  small-pox,  settled  down  over 
the  town  and  surrounding  country.  The  war,  which  it 
was  thought  would  be  short,  lasted  with  all  its  attendant 
evils  of  butchery,  famine,  and  plunder,  with  little  abate- 
ment, for  two  years. 

Mr.  West  wrote  :  "  Two  of  our  stations,  Mo  Shengo  and 
Sumanosogo,  were  plundered,  and  the  building  at  Mo 
Shengo  was  destroyed.  We  have  been  forced  to  give  up 
preaching  in  forty-nine  towns  where  before  we  had  regu- 
lar preaching,  and  though  we  are  pressed  to  the  wall, 
sorely  perplexed  as  to  the  course  to  pursue,  yet  there  is 
one  thing  for  which  we  should  truly  praise  God.  Out- 
people  are  scattered  and  in  distress,  but  they  have  not 
turned  away  from  the  gospel.  They  are  not  willing  that 
the  mission  should  go  away  from  them.  Many  cling  to 
it  with  the  energy  of  despair.  Had  it  not  been  for  the 
mission  the  people  would  all  have  gone  away  from  this 
country.  Mohammedanism,  which  has  had  such  a  deep- 
rooted  hold  upon  the  people,  has,  I  think,  received  such 


UNITED   BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  211 

a  check  as  will  effectually  destroy  its  power  in  this  coun- 
try. The  Mohammedans  have  so  completely  deceived 
and  defrauded  the  people  that  they  want  nothing  more 
to  do  with  them." 

At  the  meeting  of  the  board  at  Westfield,  Illinois,  it 
was  decided  to  put  up  a  new  building,  to  be  called  the 
"  Mary  Sowers  Home  for  Girls,"  and  to  raise  $2,000  for 
the  purpose.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sage,  graduates  of  Union 
Biblical  Seminary,  with  experience  in  African  work,  in 
the  employ  of  the  General  Board,  were  appointed  to  go 
to  Africa  to  build  the  house. 

The  Germany  mission  work  was  undertaken  at  the  an- 
nual meeting  held  at  Fostoria,  Ohio,  in  May,  1880.  The 
association  consented  to  support  the  work  in  Coburg,  a 
city  of  about  fourteen  thousand  inhabitants,  with  an 
appropriation  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  The 
name  of  the  first  missionary  was  Rev.  G.  Noetzold.  He 
organized  a  church,  March  27,  1881.  He  described  the 
place  as  a  moral  desert.  The  state  churches  were  given 
over  to  formalism,  the  pastors  were  neglectful  of  their 
flocks,  and  the  common  people  had  no  gospel.  The  re- 
sults of  his  labors  were  highly  gratifying.  About  the 
close  of  the  first  year,  Rev.  William  Mittendorf,  then  our 
German  editor,  visited  the  mission  and  wrote  :  "  I  thank 
the  sisters  in  America,  as  the  people  here  say,  '  a  hundred 
thousand  times,^  for  beginning  this  mission."  At  that 
time  there  were  twenty  members  and  a  good  Sabbath- 
school,  and  the  congregations  were  large.  There  have 
been  trials  and  persecutions  here  as  well  as  in  Africa. 
The  meetings  were  often  disturbed  by  ruffians;  stones 
were  sometimes  thrown  through  the  windows  from  the 
streets.  The  city  papers  contained  articles  against  the 
work,  probably  incited  by  the  state  preachers.  Of  these 
the  missionary  wrote :    "  The  Lord  is  on  our  side.     In 


212  HISTORY   OP^   THE 

spite  of  all  persecutions  our  meetings  are  increasing  in 
numbers." 

The  successor  of  Rev.  Mr.  Noetzold  proved  unfaithful, 
and  was  dismissed.  Rev.  H.  Barkemeyer  was  appointed 
to  Coburg  by  the  conference  in  the  spring  of  1886.  He 
says :  "  The  conduct  of  my  predecessor  did  much  harm, 
but  still  I  believe  we  will  recover  the  loss."  Later  re- 
ports tell  of  a  good  revival  influence,  and  the  contribu- 
tion of  sixty-two  dollars  by  a  lady  in  Coburg  toward  the 
erection  of  a  chapel. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  organization  the  Chinese  in 
our  own  country  enlisted  the  sympathy  of  the  ladies. 
At  the  annual  meeting  at  Western,  Iowa,  in  May,  1881, 
the  board  passed  the  resolution :  "  That  we  request  the 
trustees  to  open  a  school  for  the  Chinese  on  the  Pacific 
Coast  as  soon  as  practicable."  Letters  were  written  to 
Bishop  Castle,  asking  him  to  suggest  a  place.  He  visited 
San  Francisco,  and  Portland,  Oregon,  and  found  a  great 
many  Chinese  at  both  places.  In  Portland,  Oregon,  a 
Christian  Chinaman  by  the  name  of  Moy  Ling  had  gath- 
ered his  countrymen  together  and  held  a  night  school 
for  six  years.  The  school  grew  to  such  proportions  that 
Moy  Ling  wanted  some  church  to  take  it.  This  came  to 
Bishop  Castle's  notice,  and  he  began  to  negotiate  for  it. 
It  was  decided  to  take  the  school  in  October,  1882,  and 
Mrs.  Ellen  Sickafoose,  of  Buchanan,  Michigan,  was  ap- 
pointed to  take  charge  of  the  mission.  Her  husband, 
Rev.  George  Sickafoose,  was  appointed  by  the  General 
Board  of  the  Church  to  take  charge  of  the  mission 
church  in  East  Portland.  Mrs.  Sickafoose  took  charge  of 
the  school,  July  16,  1883,  with  twenty  pupils.  At  the 
end  of  the  first  quarter  there  were  fifty-eight  pupils  and 
seven  teachers  enrolled ;  at  the  close  of  the  second,  one 
hundred  and  thirty  pupils  and  thirteen  teachers ;  and  at 


UNITED   BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  213 

the  close  of  the  third,  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  pupils 
and  twelve  teachers,  showing  a  steady  increase.  They 
themselves  contributed  for  the  support  of  the  school  in 
nine  months,  four  hundred  and  seven  dollars.  Moy 
Ling  has  been  a  most  faithful  helper.  He  gave  all  the 
furniture,  consisting  of  an  organ,  tables,  seats,  chairs, 
clock,  stove,  lamps,  and  books,  to  the  association.  The 
school  is  held  every  evening  in  the  week  except  one, 
from  7  :30  to  9  :30  o'clock.  Five  or  six  are  taught  by  one 
teacher.  A  building  was  rented  in  a  good  location,  but 
with  the  growth  of  the  school  the  rooms  were  much 
crowded,  and  there  was  soon  a  pressing  need  of  a  better 
building.  Brother  Sickafoose  wrote  to  the  association, 
describing  a  good  piece  of  property  which  was  for  sale  at 
a  reasonable  price.  The  location  was  Second  and  Mill 
streets ;  the  lot  fifty  by  one  hundred  feet,  with  a  new 
building,  fifty  by  fifty,  two  stories  high,  with  two  splen- 
did' business  rooms  on  the  first  floor,  stair-way  in  the 
center,  and  twelve  nice  rooms  on  the  second  floor.  The 
trustees  of  the  association  decided  to  secure  the  prop- 
erty, and  the  first  year  two  thousand,  five  hundred  and 
thirty-six  dollars  and  ninety  cents  was  raised  toward 
its  purchase.  The  remainder  was  apportioned  to  tha 
branch  societies,  and  in  due  time  paid.  Already  fifty 
have  rejected  the  Joss,  and  accepted  Christ  as  their 
Savior,  and  between  four  and  five  hundred  have  been 
instructed,  both  in  letters  and  in  the  way  of  life. 

It  will  be  of  interest  to  everyone  to  know  a  little  of 
the  history  of  Moy  Ling.  He  was  born  in  Sun  Ning 
County,  Canton,  China,  in  1852.  He  attended  a  private 
school  in  China  three  years,  and  a  grammar  school  four 
years.  He  has  a  good  education  in  Chinese.  He  came 
to  Portland,  Oregon,  in  August,  1872,  and  has  been  there 
ever  since.     He  had  some  idea  of  the  great  God  when 


214  HISTORY    of'  the 

quite  young,  and  believed  the  only  way  to  worship  him 
was  through  Joss.  The  first  light  that  dawned  on  his 
mind  in  regard  to  the  Christian  religion  was  from  read- 
ing a  Bible  in  Chinese,  presented  to  him  by  General 
Howard  in  1874.  He  attended  a  mission-school  in  Port- 
land about  four  years,  has  a  fair  English  education,  and 
is  a  beautiful  writer.  He  joined  our  church  at  East 
Portland  in  1883,  and  when  a  Chinese  society  was  formed 
he  became  class-leader.  He  can  read  and  speak  our  lan- 
guage well,  and  is  a  very  fine  interpreter.  His  people 
have  great  confidence  in  him.  At  first  he  worked  dur- 
ing the  day,  and  gave  his  evenings  to  the  school.  Since 
1885  his  whole  time  has  been  given  to  the  school.  Very 
much  of  the  great  success  of  the  association  is  due  to  his 
ability  and  consecration  to  the  work. 

Early  in  December  the  first  number  of  the  Womaii's 
Evangel  was  issued,  bearing  date,  January,  1882,  with  a 
subscription  list  of  twelve  hundred.  By  the  board  meet- 
ing it  was  seventeen  hundred.  From  the  beginning  it 
has  paid  all  the  expenses  of  publishing  and  of  editorial 
service.  The  price  was  reduced  to  fifty  cents  in  1886, 
with  such  an  increase  in  the  subscription  list  as  to  prom- 
ise a  profit  for  the  association.  It  has  proved  one  of  the 
best  agencies  for  extending  and  establishing  the  work  of 
the  association. 

The  association  now  has  three  large,  flourishing  mis- 
sions in  three  quarters  of  the  globe,  seven  American 
missionaries,  seven  native  missionaries,  five  day  schools, 
with  an  attendance  of  192,  church-membership  of  706, 
value  of  property  $26,000,  It  has  gathered  during  the 
fourteen  years  of  its  existence  $96,204.41. 


UI^ITED    BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  215 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    REV.  J.  C.  BRIGHT. 

Rev.  John  Collins  Bright  was  born  near  Canal  Win- 
chester, Ohio,  October  13,  1818.  He  was  the  son  of  Major 
and  Deborah  Bright,  who  came  from  the  State  of  Mary- 
land. The  childhood  of  Mr.  Bright  was  full  of  hard- 
ships incident  to  early  settlers.  He  was  an  obedient, 
honest,  and  industrious  boy.  When  about  eleven  years 
old  he  removed  to  Hancock  County,  Ohio,  and  at  nine- 
teen years  of  age  he  became  a  Christian,  under  the  labors 
of  Rev.  M.  Long,  and  entered  the  ministry  one  year 
later.  He  became  a  member  of  Sandusky  Conference  in 
the  year  1841,  and  fully  gave  himself  to  his  calling.  In 
1844  he  married  Miss  Ann  Sophia  Stoner,  an  excellent 
helpmate  in  his  work.  To  them  were  born  George  W. 
and  Mary  E.  Bright,  whose  mother  died  in  October,  1849. 
Soon  after  this  their  father  became  violently  ill,  and  for 
a  time  it  seemed  he  would  follow  to  the  grave  his  wife, 
whose  loss  he  greatly  felt.  As  soon  as  health  permitted, 
he  was  preaching  again,  and  great  success  attended  his 
ministry.  In  July,  1851,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Ann 
Maria  Stoner,  a  sister  of  his  first  wife,  who  still  survives, 
and  has  shown  great  energy  and  good  management  in 
rearing  her  own  six  children,  as  well  as  those  of  the  first 
M  rs.  Bright. 

About  this  time  Mr,  Bright  felt  that  the  Church 
should  take  a  deeper  interest  in  the  education  of  its 
youth,  and  began  to  advocate  higher  education,  against 
much  opposition.      At  that  time  many  in  the  Church 


216  HISTORY    OF    THE 

were  opposed  to  colleges,  especially  denominational  in- 
stitutions. This  was  not  only  on  account  of  the  cost  of 
building  up  such  schools,  but  the  fear  that  they  would 
ultimately  lead  to  what  then  were  usually  called  preacher 
factories,  and  thereby  exclude  from  the  ministry  unedu- 
cated men.  He  did  the  Church  valuable  service  in  over- 
coming this  opposition.  He  moved  to  Westerville,  Ohio, 
when  Otterbein  University  was  in  its  infancy,  and  gave 
to  that  institution  much  time  and.  money.  At  the  an- 
nual sessions  of  his  conference,  in  the  homes  of  the  peo- 
ple for  whom  he.  preached,  and  everywhere,  he  sought  to 
awaken  interest  in  behalf  of  higher  education  and  enlist 
all  he  could  in  favor  of  Otterbein  University.  His  earn- 
est advocacy  of  this  college  made  some  turn  from  him 
who  greatly  admired  him  on  account  of  his  remarkable 
success  as  a  minister.  With  him  the  question  what  is 
right  and  proper  to  do  carried  him  quite  beyond  all  con- 
sideration of  what  results  might  follow.  Loyalty  to  his 
convictions,  which  were  always  on  the  side  of  progress, 
made  him  as  .firm  as  a  rock.  He  was  not  content  to  run 
in  old  grooves  or  ruts.  He  must  climb  higher,  do  better 
work,  and  save  more  souls,  or  his  ideal  of  life  was  not 
met. 

As  an  illustration  of  how  deep-seated  was  the  feeling 
against  church- schools,  the  following  may  be  cited:  About 
thirty  years  ago,  in  Miami  Conference,  the  question  arose 
one  afternoon  and  was  discussed  until  nearly  midnight, 
whether  the  conference  should  co-operate  with  other  con- 
ferences in  building  up  Otterbein  University.  The  vote 
barely  carried,  and  would  have  been  lost  had  it  been 
taken  sooner,  as  several  of  the  opposition  left  before  the 
vote  was  taken,  owing  to  the  lateness  of  the  hour.  A 
like  condition  existed  in  Sandusky  and  other  confer- 
ences.    Mr.  Bright  would  work  by  old  methods  so  far  as 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  217 

he  felt  they  were  right,  but  no  further ;  and  it  mattered 
little  who  disapproved  or  who  approved  his  course.  Yet 
no  man  clung  to  his  friends  with  firmer  grasp  or  felt 
estrangement  from  them  more  keenly  than  he,  for  he 
had  an  exceedingly  kind  and  affectionate  disposition. 
Otterbein  University  had  in  him  a  staunch  friend 
when  it  was  greatly  in  need  of  such  friends.  He  saw 
in  prospect  what  we  now  see  in  reality;  i.  c,  that 
from  its  halls  would  go  forth  men  and  women  who 
would  be  efficient,  zealous  doers  of  good  work  in  the 
Church.  The  president,  secretary,  and  treasurer  of  the 
Woman's  Missionary  Association,  and  many  others  of 
both  sexes,  who  are  at  this  time  filling  positions  of  great 
responsibility  and  doing  most  efficient  service  in  behalf 
of  Christ  and  the  Church,  were  students  there.  The 
great  and  good  work  accomplished  by  the  colleges  in  the 
United  Brethren  Church  has  effectually  crushed  out  op- 
position to  them.  Would  that  one  half  million  of  dol- 
lars, which  they  much  need,  richly  deserve,  and  ought 
to  have  before  the  end  of  this  year,  were  now  proffered 
them. 

But  successful  as  Mr.  Bright's  labors  had  been  as  home 
missionary,  circuit  preacher,  presiding  elder,  and  advo- 
cate of  everything  which  tended  to  elevate  and  ennoble 
humanity,  in  the  year  1852,  a  new  field  of  still  greater 
usefulness  opened  to  him.  Sandusky  Conference  had  in 
it  ministers  such  as  Rev.  A.  Biddle,  M.  Long,  C.  Briggs^ 
and  others,  some  of  whom  still  live,  though  nearly  four- 
score years  of  age,  who  earnestly  advocated  the  question 
of  foreign  missions.  Mr.  Bright  caught  the  spirit,  and 
it  was  soon  apparent  that  he  was  to  be  a  leader  in  this 
cause.  At  a  meeting  of  this  conference  a  committee  was 
appointed,  of  which  he  was  chairman,  which  presented 
to  that  body  a  report,  which  was  adopted  v/ithout  a  dis- 


218  HISTORY    OF    THE 

senting  vote.  The  first  and  fifth  resolutions  of  the  report 
are  as  follows : 

"1.  That  the  time  has  fully  come  when  the  United 
Brethren  Church  should  unite  her  whole  strength  in  a 
missionary  society,  which  shall  include  not  only  the 
home,  but  the  frontier  and  foreign  fields. 

**5.  That,  whereas,  the  members  of  Sandusky  Confer- 
ence have  formed  themselves  into  a  foreign  missionary 
society,  our  delegates  to  the  ensuing  General  Conference 
are  instructed  to  pray  said  conference  to  take  such  meas- 
ures as  will  create  an  effective  foreign  missionary  society, 
in  order  to  effect  a  concentrated  activity  throughout  the 
whole  church,  so  that  we  may  confidently  look  forward 
to  the  time,  not  distant,  when  the  Church  of  the  United 
Brethren  in  Christ  shall  have  efficient  missionaries  in 
foreign  fields." 

Immediately  after  the  adoption  of  this  report,  more 
than  seven  hundred  dollars  was  pledged  in  the  confer- 
ence room.  This  action  of  Sandusky  Conference,  under 
the  leadership  of  Mr,  Bright,  in  the  autumn,  led  the 
General  Conference,  the  following  spring,  to  organize  the 
Home,  Frontier,  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  Very 
naturally  and  wisely  it  chose  him  for  its  corresponding 
secretary. 

The  foregoing  resolutions,  placed  beside  the  salutatory 
which  Mr.  Bright  wrote  in  the  first  issue  of  the  Mission- 
ary Telescope,  of  which  he  was  editor  by  virtue  of  his 
office,  show  how  zealously  he  desired  the  salvation  of  all 
men.     We  quote  the  editorial  entire  : 

"  We  make  to  you,  dear  reader,  our  humblest  bow, 
hoping  that  this  first  visit  will  not  be  unwelcome  nor 
unprofitable,  and  that  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  months 
we  may  mutually  form  an  acquaintance  so  agreeable,  a 
friendship  so  strong,  and  a  fcllnwship  so  holy  that  we 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  21^ 

shall  not  readily  part  company.  We  have  no  time  to 
waste  in  mere  compliments,  and  therefore  beg  leave  at 
once  to  make  known  the  object  of  our  mission.  We  are, 
as  we  humbly  trust,  a  servant  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  called 
into  his  vineyard,  not  to  while  away  the  time,  to  specu- 
late, to  dream,  to  take  our  ease,  but  to  work.  We  come 
to  you,  therefore,  in  haste,  for  the  Lord's  business  de- 
mands dispatch. 

"  Believing,  without  the  shadow  of  a  doubt,  that  man  is 
a  perishing  sinner,  that  he  is  utterly  unable  to  redeem 
himself,  that  there  is  no  salvation  out  of  Christ,  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  that  there  is  full,  free,  available,  present? 
eternal  salvation  in  Christ-^that  Christianity  is  true  and 
exactly  adapted  to  all  the  religious  needs  of  man — and 
knowing  that  swarming  millions  of  the  people  in  our 
own  country,  in  neighboring  countries,  and  especially  in 
foreign  and  heathen  lands,  are  living  and  dying  in  sin, 
we  wish  to  talk  with  you  as  friend  talks  with  friend 
about  the  conversion  of  this  world  to  Christ,  about  Chris- 
tian missions  in  the  home  fields,  on  the  frontiers,  among 
the  Germans,  and  in  foreign  and  heathen  lands.  We 
wish  to  furnish  the  latest  and  most  useful  missionary  in- 
telligence, to  stimulate  missionary  enterprise,  to  stir  up 
men,  and  especially  young  men  and  women,  to  conse- 
crate themselves  to  the  missionary  work,  to  open  the 
fountains  of  benevolence  and  guide  their  streams  into 
the  proper  channels,  to  encourage  faith  in  the  early 
triumph  of  Christ's  kingdom,  and,  in  short,  to  join 
heartily  with  all  of  the  laborers  now  in  the  field  in  the 
prosecution,  by  all  practicable  methods,  of  the  grand  en- 
terprise of  the  age,  and  of  all  ages,  and  of  eternal  ages — 
the  conquest  of  the  whole  world  to  the  Redeemer.  This  is  our 
mission,  our  whole  mission ;  and,  if  God  has  touched 
your  heart  and  kindled  in  it  a  spark  of  missionary  fire. 


220  HISTORY   OF   THE 

give  us  your  hand,  give  us  your  jjrayers,  and  what  aid 
you  can." 

After  reading  such  an  article,  it  is  not  hard  to  believe 
that  God  still  raises  up  men  for  special  work,  as  he  did 
George  Washington,  Abraham  Lincoln,  Martin  Luther, 
John  Wesley,  and  others.  In  United  Brethren  circles, 
Wm.  Otterbein,  Martin  Boehm,  J.  J.  Glossbrenner,  D.  Ed- 
wards, Dr.  L.  Davis,  J.  C.  Bright,  and  others  might  be 
named.  It  is  not  saying  more  than  the  truth  warrants 
to  affirm  that  Mr.  Bright  aroused  the  Church  upon  the 
question  of  missions  as  it  had  never  been  stirred  up  on 
any  question  before.  He  moved  hearts,  opened  pocket- 
books,  and  put  people  to  inquiring,  "Lord,  what  wilt 
thou  have  me  to  do?"  as  is  seldom  done.  The  impas- 
sioned addresses  moved  people  to  give  as  they  had  never 
done  before.  Hundreds  multiplied  into  thousands  under 
his  oratory,  which  was  always  full  of  Bible  argument, 
very  earnest,  and  full  of  sympathy  for  the  lost.  His 
soul  was  fired  with  an  intensity  in  behalf  of  missions 
utterly  indescribable.  The  people  felt  the  heathen  must 
be  saved,  that  the  new  States  and  territories  in  our  coun- 
try must  have  attention;  in  short,  wherever  there  was 
need  of  missionaries  on  home,  frontier,  and  foreign  fields, 
they  must  go  without  delay.  There  were  times  when  he 
seemed  in  great  agony  because  more  was  not  done.  John 
Knox,  when  he  prayed,  "  Lord,  give  me  Scotland,  or  I 
die,"  could  not  have  felt  more  intensely  the  weight  of 
souls  than  did  Mr.  Bright.  His  addresses  were  irresisti- 
ble, and  the  results  upon  his  hearers  most  salutary. 

Some  very  amusing  incidents  occurred  while  making 
pleas  for  money.  He  became  so  enthused  at  times  that 
he  thought  everybody  ought  to  pour  out  his  money 
and  be  glad  for  the  opportunity  to  send  the  gospel  to  the 
heathen.     At  his  own  conference  he  was  receiving  sub- 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS. 


221 


scriptions  for  life  members  and  life  directors  of  the  mis- 
sionary society,  the  one  costing  ten  dollars  and  the  other 
fifty  dollars,  and  he  passed  through  the  audience  and 
took  the  names  of  persons  who  were  willing  to  give  these 
sums.  Among  others,  he  went  to  his  little  boy,  six  years 
old,  and  asked  him  to  become  a  life  director.  The  boy 
had  only  six  cents,  which  had  been  given  him  as  a  pres- 
ent, and  it  was  a  little  hard  for  him  to  give  it  up,  but  he 
paid  it  on  a  life  directorship,  and  that  same  boy,  now  a 
wealthy  merchant  in  Columbus,  has  not  only  been  a  fast 
friend  of  missions  ever  since,  but  is  infusing  a  like  spirit 
into  many  young  people  as  the  superintendent  and 
teacher  of  a  large  Sunday-school.  During  all  the  years 
of  his  ministry  Mr.  Bright  evinced  the  same  zeal  and 
success.  In  1857  his  health  failed,  and  his  physicians 
forbade  his  preaching  or  making  public  addresses.  After 
a  time  he  went  into  commercial  pursuits,  which  proved 
disastrous  to  him.  In  1860  his  health  had  so  far  recov- 
ered that  he  took  a  charge  again. 

His  last  charge  was  Gallon,  Ohio,  where  he  went  in 
the  fall  of  1865,  and  died  August,  18G6.  Here  the  church 
was  at  a  low  ebb,  having  only  about  twenty-five  mem- 
bers, and  the  Sunday-school  was  almost  extinct.  The 
church  being  poor  and  he  almost  without  means,  his 
faithful  wife  began  a  small  mercantile  business  to  meet 
the  wants  of  the  family.  These  were  not  only  dark  days, 
but  days  of  great  struggle  in  prayer.  In  December  he 
began  a  series  of  meetings,  which  continued  about  two 
months.  He  was  cheered  to  welcome  over  one  hundred 
and  sixty  into  the  church,  among  these  being  some  of 
his  own  family. 

The  United  Brethren  Church,  which  never  had  been 
very  friendly  to  instrumental  music  in  worship,  had  at 
the  General  Conference  of  1865  forbidden  it.     This  he 


222  HISTORY   OF   THE 

and  others  felt  was  wrong,  and  in  his  characteristic 
manner  he  made  it,  together  with  vocal  music,  an  im- 
portant part  of  worship  in  Galion.  He  felt  that  for 
his  people  he  needed  instrumental  music,  and  that  he 
should  help  to  break  down  opposition  to  it,  which  he 
bravely  did. 

In  March,  1S66,  his  old  affliction  returned,  and  his 
physicians  ordered  him  to  a  sanitarium,  as  they  had 
done  before.  His  former  medical  counselor  told  him  he 
could  not  recover.  On  his  way  home  he  stopped  at  a  mis- 
sionary meeting  in  Dayton,  Ohio,  where  he  made  a  most 
touching  plea  for  Africa,  which  he  thought  was  above  all 
others  the  most  promising  field  for  United  Brethren  mis- 
sionaries. 

His  last  days  were  very  happy,  and  his  last  hours  were 
spent  in  song  and  prayer.  His  funeral  was  conducted 
hy  the  venerable  Rev.  A.  Biddle  and  others.  The  fol- 
lowing resolutions,  passed  by  the  pastors  of  Galion,  show 
the  high  esteem  in  which  they  held  him  : 

^'Resolved,  That  in  our  deceased  brother  we  recognized 
a  willing  and  faithful  minister  of  the  gospel  of  Christ — 
hold,  earnest,  sincere,  and  self-sacrificing — and  one  who, 
honest  to  his  convictions,  preached  the  word  in  season 
and  out  of  season,  and  who  would  very  gladly  spend  and 
be  spent  for  his  people  and  the  gospel,  counting  not  his 
life  dear  unto  him,  that  he  might  finish  his  course  with 
joy  and  the  ministry  which  he  had  received  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  to  preach  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God.  And 
the  church's  Divine  Head  did  not  permit  him  to  labor 
in  vain  and  spend  his  strength  for  naught.  Many  have 
under  God  hailed  him  as  the  minister  through  whose 
efforts  they  were  led  to  the  cross  of  Christ — that  Christ 
in  whom  his  own  soul  trusted,  in  life  and  in  death,  for 
grace  and  for  glory." 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  223 

The  remains  were  taken  to  Columbus  and  interred  in 
Green  Lawn  Cemetery,  His  wife  and  eight  children  sur- 
vived him.  Three  of  his  sons,  George  W.,  John  L.,  and 
C.  E.  Bright,  are  in  Columbus  engaged  in  mercantile 
business.  Jesse  L.  is  pursuing  a  theological  course  in 
Yale,  and  will  soon  enter  the  ministry.  He  is  develop- 
ing much  of  the  zeal  and  success  of  his  father,  supply- 
ing mission  churches  as  he  has  the  opportunity.  The 
three  sons  in  Columbus  are  highly  respected,  energetic, 
and  successful  business  men.  One  son  has  since  died. 
One  daughter  is  the  wife  of  a  Kansas  farmer,  another  the 
wife  of  a  Parkersburg,  West  Virginia,  lawyer,  and  one  is 
unmarried.     All  are  doing  well. 

Bright  Conservatory  of  Music  in  Toledo,  Iowa,  named 
in  honor  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  stands  as  a  lasting 
monument  to  his  memory. 


224  HISTORY   OF    THE 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH   OF    REV.  J.  KEMP. 

Rev.  John  Kemp  was  born  in  Butler  County,  Ohio, 
August  29,  1813,  and  was  buried  on  the  last  Sabbath  of 
the  year  1883.  He  was  the  son  of  Rev.  John  Kemp, 
who  was  born  in  Berks  County,  Pennsylvania,  in  1779. 
His  mother  was  a  Zeller,  also  from  Pennsylvania.  The 
subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  on  a  farm,  and  engaged 
in  agricultural  pursuits  more  or  less  through  life.  His 
educational  advantages  were  meagre,  but  he  attended 
school  a  few  months  each  year.  He  soon  excelled  his 
teachers,  and  was  himself  qualified  to  teach  when  yet  a 
boy.  When  opportunity  afforded,  he  studied  higher 
branches  at  home  at  night.  He  had  great  taste  for,  and 
became  proficient  in,  higher  mathematics ;  learned  sur- 
veying, and  practiced  it  from  time  to  time  through 
life.  For  several  years  he  was  engaged  in  teaching.  At 
the  frequent  log  rollings  and  house  and  barn-raisings  of 
those  days  he  excelled  in  athletic  feats,  and  was  noted 
for  his  strength  and  agility  on  those  occasions. 

When  a  little  over  twenty  years  of  age  he  was  married 
September  18,  1832,  to  Martha  Clawson,  who  after  a  few 
years  fell  asleep  in  Christ.  In  1842  he  was  married  to 
Ann  Williamson,  an  estimable  woman,  who  shared  with 
him  the  toils,  and  joys,  and  sorrows  of  life  forty-one 
years,  and  who  now,  in  advanced  age,  sorrows  in  this 
night  of  bereavement. 

He  was  converted  August  15,  1830,  and  constantly 
maintained  a  decided  C.'hiistian  character.     In  1847,  he 


UXITED    BRETJIREN    MISSIONS.  225 

entered  the  ministry,  and  joined  Miami  Conference  at 
Seven-Mile,  in  October,  1850.  Before  his  entering  the 
ministry  his  home  and  counsels  cheered  the  ministers 
of  the  gospel  of  Christ  in  no  ordinary  degree.  He  was 
for  twenty-five  years  an  active  itinerant  in  Miami  Con- 
terence,  often  filling  the  ofiice  of  presiding  elder.  All 
these  years  he  was  deeply  enlisted  in  the  general 
interests  of  the  Church,  and  few  men  so  well  understood 
its  genius  and  spirit,  or  more  mightily  laid  their  hearts 
and  energies  of  life  in  accord  with  its  progressive  enter- 
prises. He  honored  and  loved  the  peculiar  reformatory 
features  of  the  Church,  and  especially  its  opposition  to 
all  forms  of  secret  organizations. 

For  thirty-five  years  he  attended  every  General  Con- 
ference of  the  Church  save  one,  and  kept  himself  intel- 
ligently abreast  with  all  its  enactments.  Thirty-six 
years  ago  when  the  Home,  Frontier,  and  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Society  of  the  United  Brethren  in  Christ  was 
organized.  Brother  Kemp  became  one  of  the  original 
incorporators,  and  a  member  of  its  board  of  managers. 
He  was  an  active,  progressive  member  of  that  board 
during  life.  For  twelve  years  he  was  the  treasurer  of 
the  missionary  society,  and  was  present  at  every  meet- 
ing of  the  board  while  he  lived  with  a  single  exception. 

When  the  last  session  of  the  missionary  meeting 
which  he  attended  was  about  to  adjourn,  it  was  sug- 
gested that  Brother  Kemp  make  some  remarks.  He 
arose  and  spoke  as  if  divinely  inspired :  "  On  account 
of  feebleness  I  have  kept  quiet.  But  it  has  been  a 
meeting  of  great  spiritual  enjoyment  to  me.  I  see  the 
work  is  open.  I  cannot  speak  at  length,  but  I  can  see 
ahead.  The  way  is  open  before  us.  We  shall  enter 
into  it.  The  work  will  go  forward  and  onward.  I  see 
great  light  ahead."    He  sat  down,  while  the  audience 


226  HISTORY    OK    THE 

sobbed  with  emotion.  It  was  as  if  a  breeze  from  the 
other  world  swept  over  the  place.  He  was  one  who 
held  on  firmly  to  our  African  mission  in  its  dark  hour. 
Can  the  Church  take  up  the  utterance  and  repeat  it :  "I 
see  great  light  ahead  ?  " 

That  speech,  so  very  characteristic  of  his  whole  life, 
and  the  many  he  made  before  the  board  and  its  execu- 
tive committee  during  the  thirty  years  he  was  a  member 
of  both,  is  an  illustration  of  his  faith  in  the  power  of 
the  gospel  to  overcome  all  obstacles  and  triumph  over 
all  its  enemies.  He  died  just  before  the  great  in-gath- 
ering of  souls  in  Africa.  During  all  the  lo'ng  years  we 
had  worked  there  we  had  only  514  members  at  that 
time.  In  1884  over  1,000  were  added;  in  1885,  over 
1,100,  and  in  1886,  over  1,300.  In  1887  the  war  greatly 
hindered  the  work ;  many  of  our  people  were  killed,  and 
carried  into  captivity  so  that  there  was  a  loss  of  members, 
but  in  1888  nearly  1,000  others  were  received.  Put  these 
facts  alongside  of  Brother  Kemp's  speech  in  1883,  and  it 
looks  much  as  though  he  were  both  divinely  and  pro- 
phetically inspired. 

Brother  Kemp  met  with  great  reverses  and  losses,  and 
yet  several  times  accumulated  a  large  amount  of  wealth, 
and  perhaps  no  man  in  our  church  gave  during  life  so 
largely  to  any  one  institution  as  he  did  to  the  Union 
Biblical  Seminary.  He  is  the  founder  of  the  seminary. 
His  munificent  donation  of  the  splendid  grounds  on 
which  the  building  stands,  and  those  adjacent  to  them, 
show  the  largeness  of  his  heart.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  the  seminary.  At  the  time  of  the  donation  these 
grounds  were  estimated  to  be  worth  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars.    The  present  value  far  exceeds  that  sum. 

He  was  an  honored  member  of  the  board  of  trustees 
and  executive  committee  up  to  the  day  of  his  departure 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  227 

into  rest.  He  gave  not  less  than  five  or  six  thousand  dol- 
lars to  the  church  building  on  Summit  Street,  in  Dayton, 
Ohio.  In  intellectual  powers  all  who  came  in  contact 
■with  him  recognized  his  ability.  He  had  the  spirit,  and 
pluck,  and  heart  of  a  dozen  men.  In  intellect  he  was 
fleet  as  Asahel,  and  in  perseverance  he  was  as  the  cur- 
rents of  the  sea.  He  bore  up  like  a  mountain  against 
every  adversity  and  every  storm.  He  thought  and  acted 
for  himself,  and  could  contend  more  earnestly  and  intel- 
ligently for  a  measure  which  his  judgment  and  heart  ap- 
proved, and  if  defeated  submit  more  gracefully  and  in 
a  more  gentlemanly  and  Christian  manner  than  any 
man  the  writer  ever  knew.  He  had  strong  convictions, 
and  followed  them ;  he  had  emotions  and  passions  like  a 
storm,  and  withal  a  heart  as  tender  as  a  child's,  and  a 
spirit  ,as  sweet  as  the  spring-time.  He  carried  in  his 
bosom  nothing  but  love  and  truth.  He  was  the  youngest 
old  man  to  be  met  in  a  life-time.  He  went  to  heaven 
with  a  heart  throbbing  for  the  coming  of  the  kingdom 
of  Christ  our  Lord  on  earth. 

At  the  time  he  entered  the  active  ministry  of  the 
Church,  there  was  little  provision  made  for  the  support 
of  ministers.  As  was  very  often  the  case  in  those  days, 
the  preachers  largely  depended  upon  their  farms,  or  the 
business  they  were  engaged  in,  for  a  livelihood.  Mr. 
Kemp  being  reared  on  a  farm,  and  having  been  a  mer- 
chant before  he  became  a  minister,  continued  to  deal 
in  real  estate  more  or  less  until  near  the  close  of  his 
life.  Having  considerable  business,  he  most  cheerfully 
declined  being  general  manager  of  the  Union  Biblical 
Seminary,  and  treasurer  of  the  missionary  society,  when 
these  interests  required  the  entire  time  of  a  man.  He 
never,  in  all  the  years  he  gave  so  faithfully  to  church 
work,  received  enough  to  live  upon,  and  hence  depended 


228  HISTORY   OF    THE 

more  upon  his  business  than  his  salary  to  meet  his 
wants.  He  helped  make  good  places  for  others,  which 
he  might  have  retained,  but  did  not. 

In  his  younger  days  he  was  somewhat  of  a  politician, 
and  after  his  removal  to  Dayton  in  1861,  he  served  as  a 
member  of  the  city  council,  and  also  of  the  school 
board,  and  in  all  the  places  of  importance  and  honor 
occupied  by  him,  he  was  not  only  faithful,  but  success- 
ful. West  Dayton  owes  much  of  its  growth  to  him. 
His  efforts  did  much  also  to  have  the  National  Military 
Home  located  near  the  city.  He  was  in  the  true  sense 
of  the  word  a  wide  awake  and  enterprising  man,  and 
foremost  in  the  cause  of  education,  missions,  and  every 
good  work  both  in  church  and  state. 

Few  men  have  lived  a  more  active,  useful  life  than  did 
Mr.  Kemp.  With  a  great  soul,  a  holy  ambition,  an 
indomitable  will,  a  strong,  well-developed  body,  and  an 
iron  constitution,  he  wrought  long  and  successfully  for 
humanity  and  the  glory  of  God.  He  carried  burdens 
which  would  have  crushed  a  half  dozen  men  often,  and 
was  cheerful  and  hopeful,  and  even  happy  beneath  them. 
His  motto  was,  "What  should  be  done,  can  be  done,  and 
shall  be  done ;  and  the  sooner  it  is  undertaken  the 
better."  How  much  the  world  needs  such  men  to  stim- 
ulate others  to  deeds  of  noble  daring. 

By  the  first  marriage  four  children  were  born  to  him, 
two  sons  and  two  daughters,  one  son  and  one  daughter 
of  whom  have  passed  away.  By  his  second  marriage 
there  were  three  children,  all  of  whom  are  living.  Those 
surviving  are  Mr.  S.  C.  Kemp,  of  Etimanda,  California; 
Mrs.  Martha  Parks,  of  Dexter,  Illinois ;  Dr.  W.  S.  Kemp, 
Hon.  S.  E.  Kemp,  and  Mrs.  A.  A.  Rike,  of  Dayton,  Ohio, 
in  which  city  his  wife  is  pleasantly  situated.  All  are 
well-to-do  citizens,  and  some  of  them  very  prosperous. 


UNITED   BRETHBEN    MISSIONS. 


229 


CHAPTER  XX. 

BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH    OF    MRS.  MARY   ANN    SOWERS. 

This  sketch  consists  largely  of  extracts  taken  from 
what  others  wrote.  It  will  be  a  source  of  real  pleasure 
to  many  to  have  permanently  preserved  a  little  of  the 
very  much  which  might  be  written  of  Mrs.  Sowers.  One 
so  highly  endowed,  intellectually  and  spiritually,  and 
who  wasso  abundant  in  good  works,  deserves  more  space 
than  can  be  given  in  this  volume. 

"Mrs.  Sowers  was  born  in  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  on 
the  28th  of  April,  1816,  her  family  name  being  Burn- 
ham.     She  was  converted  and  joined  the  United  Breth- 
ren Church  at  a  protracted  meeting  in  Mount  Pleasant, 
near  Cincinnati,  at   the  early  age  of  twelve  years,  and 
from  that  time  forward  her  voice  was  heard  in  the  prayer 
and  experience  meetings  of  the  Church.     On  the  15th  of 
November,  1835,  she  was  married  to  Mr.  Thomas  N.  Sow- 
ers, whose  name  is  familiar  to  the  Church  by  his  long 
connection  with  our  publishing  house  in  this  city,  and 
whose  life,  by  it  purity,  godliness,  and  many  Christian 
excellencies,  was   a  fit   counterpart  of  her   own.      Six 
children  were  born  of  this  union,  of  whom  three  died 
in   infancy.      One    of    them,   a    son,   after    being  care- 
fully nurtured,  and   having  graduated   from  Otterbein 
University,  died  in  the  morning  of  life.     Two  of  them, 
daughters,  Mrs.  Benjamin  Marot  and  Mrs.  W.  J.  Moore, 
survive. 

"  About  thirty  years  ago  Mrs.  Sowers  was  deeply  im- 
pressed with  the  need  of  thorough  consecration  to  God 


230  HISTORY   OF   THE 

and  of  holy  living.  She  gave  the  subject  much  thought, 
reading  diligently  and  prayerfully  the  Scriptures,  and 
dwelt  much  on  those  passages  which  relate  to  purity 
from  sin  and  to  a  higher  spirituality,  and  made  the 
subject  largely  a  topic  of  conversation.  She  first  sought 
and  obtained  for  herself  decisive  spiritual  victories,  and 
then  strove  earnestly  to  maintain  the  higher  grounds 
which  she  had  reached.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that 
her  subsequent  life,  up  to  the  end,  was  in  thorough  har- 
mony with  the  views  she  cherished  and  the  professions 
she  thus  made. 

''Mrs.  Sowers  was  gifted  with  endowments  which  fitted 
her  for  prominence  in  Christian  movements  and  work. 
In  the  Church,  though  never  seeking  to  thrust  herself 
forward,  or  in  any  unseemly  way  endeavoring  to  control 
with  selfish  purpose  the  perfect  freedom  of  others,  she  yet 
could  not  well  do  otherwise  than  occupy  the  position  of 
a  leader. 

"Her  death  occurred  on  the  17th  of  November,  1880, 
and  her  remains  were  laid  to  rest  beside  those  of  her 
husband  and  son,  in  the  beautiful  cemetery  overlook- 
ing the  city  of  Dayton.  It  may  be  said  of  her  with 
more  than  ordinary  emphasis  that  the  earth  was  made 
better  by  her  having  lived  in  it,  and  that  heaven  is  made 
richer  by  her  entrance  into  its  glories." 

"  The  Ladies'  Aid  Society  of  the  First  United  Brethren 
Church  of  Dayton  have  very  recently  been  called  to  suffer 
a  great  loss  in  the  death  of  Mrs.  M.  A.  Sowers. 

"We  feel  that  something  more  than  mere  resolutions 
are  due  to  the  memory  of  one  so  devoted  to  the  cause  of 
truth  and  humanity,  and  so  pure  and  noble  in  all  that 
goes  to  produce  a  ripe,  rich,  Christian  womanhood ;  and 
yet  .we  feel  that  any  attempt  we  may  make  will  be  but  a 
feeble  portraiture  of  one  so  gifted  and  true. 


U>JITED    BRETIIRKN    MISSIONS.  ,  231 

"  Sister  Sowers  was  one  of  the  few  still  left  who  assisted 
in  the  organization  of  our  Aid  Society — lacking  but  a 
few  months  of  a  score  of  years  gone  by.  She  was  its 
first,  and  for  a  series  of  years  its  continued  and  faithful 
secretary,  and  afterward,  for  a  long  time,  its  honored 
president. 

"  Her  charity  was  unbounded  both  in  deed  and 
thought.  Never  a  case  so  far  gone  but  with  her  there 
was  hope.  Never  a  human  soul  so  low  down  but  she 
was  ready  to  reach  forth  her  hand  to  help  up.  When 
material  aid  failed,  her  great  lever  prayer  would  be 
brought  to  bear  with  so  much  force  as  to  make  one 
feel  there  was  indeed  a  power  unseen.  Her  faith  knew 
no  repulse.  She  believed  with  all  her  heart  that 
whatsoever  we  ask  in  his  name  we  shall  receive,  if 
for  the  best.  She  believed  not,  however,  in  faith  with- 
out works,  but  fully  in  the  doctrine  of  '  whatsoever  thy 
hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might;"  hence  her 
untiring  activity  in  every  good  word  and  work.  Mrs. 
Sowers  wcs  not  only  an  active  worker  in  her  own  church 
organization,  but  all  over  this  city  her  works  do  follow 
her. 

"  As  far  back  as  the  great  Rebellion  many  will  remem- 
ber her  labors  in  the  Soldiers'  Aid  Societ}'^,  and  her  devo- 
tion to  liberty  and  the  cause  of  her  countr3\  The  old, 
worn-out  soldier  had  no  truer  friend.  She  loved  to  clasp 
him  by  the  hand  and  bid  him  GodsiDeed. 

"The  colored  people  were  the  especial  objects  of  her 
care.  In  their  darkest  hour,  when  despised  and  rejected, 
they  found  in  her  a  friend  to  cheer  and  encourage  them 
on  their  way. 

"  Intemperance,  that  scourge  of  our  fair  land,  received 
her  just  and  righteous  indignation.  She  so  hated  this 
deadly  sin  that  her  prayers  ascended  and  her  labors  con- 


232  HISTORY   OF   THE 

tinued  for  its  suppression  as  long  as  health  and  strength 
permitted.  She  lived  to  see  many  reformed  inebriates 
brought  to  the  foot  of  the  cross  and  made  new  creatures 
in  Jesus  Christ. 

"  She  was  a  devoted  worker  in  the  Bible  cause.  She 
was  for  quite  a  time  president  of  the  Bible  Society  of  this 
city.  It  afforded  her  great  comfort  to  assist  in  dispens- 
ing the  word  of  life  in  this  way. 

"But  perhaps  in  all  her  labors  of  love  and  deeds  of 
kindness,  none  gave  such  wide  scope  to  the  workings  of 
her  great  heart  as  the  cause  of  missions.  This  work  did 
indeed  seem  to  be  her  meat  and  her  drink.  To  assist 
in  sending  the  gospel  to  the  dark  corners  of  the  world, 
to  rescue  the  perishing  millions  by  telling  them  the 
story  of  the  cross,  to  have  the  banner  of  salvation 
unfurled  to  the  breeze  in  every  clime,  was  to  her  the 
greatest  work  in  which  hand  and  heart  could  be  en- 
gaged. She  was  one  of  the  prime  movers  in  the  Wo- 
man's Missionary  Society,  its  first  president,  and  an 
enthusiastic  worker  to  the  very  last.  Some  of  us  will 
not  soon  forget,  when  the  outlook  was  darkest,  her  words 
of  cheer  and  hopefulness,  together  with  the  enthusiasm 
and  faith  with  which  she  inspired  us. 

"It  falls  to  the  lot  of  but  few  to  be  so  sincerely  re- 
spected and  so  tenderly  loved  by  their  friends  as  was 
Mrs.  Sowers.  Children  too  young  to  remember  her  have 
been  taught  to  cherish  and  revere  her  memory.  Little 
boys  and  girls  of  twenty  years  ago,  to-day  recall  with 
pleasure  bright  spots  in  their  child-life  made  so  by  her 
tender  notice  and  loving  care. 

"Ministers  and  their  families  who  were  so  fortunate  as 
to  make  her  acquaintance  will  never  forget  how  the  cares 
and  discouragements  of  life  were  banished  by  an  hour 
spent  at  her  home.     Blessed  indeed  is  the  memory,  of  one 


UNITED   BRETHREN   MISSIONS.  233 

whose  life  was  a  benediction  and  whose  death  is  a  grief 
to  all  who  knew  her." 

As  the  author  of  this  volume  was  well  acquainted  with 
this  extraordinary  woman  for  upwards  of  thirty  years, 
and  often  shared  the  hospitality  of  the  family  when  her 
husband  was  yet  alive  and  their  three  children,  who 
grew  up  to  mature  years,  were  with  them,  and  often 
witnessed  her  work  at  camp-meetings  and  in  the  church, 
he  can  unhesitatingly  indorse  all  that  has  been  said  in 
the  above  extracts.  A  good  many  of  the  ministers  who 
preached  in  the  presence  of  Mrs.  Sowers  will  remember 
how  she  preached  to  them  sometimes.  She  did  not  often 
take  a  text  at  the  beginning  of  her  discourse,  but  had  the 
happy  faculty  of  clinching  a  well  made  point  with  a 
"thus  saith  the  Lord." 

A  very  common  method  was  to  invite  the  minister 
home  to  dinner  from  a  forenoon  service,  and  after  a 
good  meal  was  served  she  would  in  a  very  ingenious  and 
kind  way  take  what  seamen  call  sounding — in  short,  she 
would  find  out  what  his  knowledge  of  God's  word  was, 
his  Christian  experience,  and  his  aspirations,  and  he  was 
very  likely  to  go  away  with  the  feeling  that  he  ought  to 
be  a  better  man  and  a  better  preacher. 


234  HISTORY   OF   THE 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH    OF    MRS.    SYLVIA    CARPENTER 
HAYWOOD. 

The  pens  of  others  have  written  a  considerable  portion 
of  the  following  sketch,  and  have  done  it  so  accurately 
and  forcibly  that  we  prefer  to  copy  from  them.  Our  re- 
gret is  that  space  does  not  allow  a  more  extended  state- 
ment of  the  life  of  one  so  pre-eminently  useful. 

Sylvia  Carpenter  Haywood  was  born  near  Delaware, 
Ohio,  August  17,  1828,  and  died  in  Westerville,  Ohio, 
October  24,  1886,  at  the  age  of  fifty-eight  years,  two 
months,  and  twenty-four  days.  Her  father  was  a  deacon 
in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  she  became  a  member  of 
the  same  church  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years.  She  grad- 
uated from  the  Worth ington  Young  Ladies'  Seminary 
in  her  eighteenth  year,  and  began  teaching  in  Otterbein 
University  in  1848,  and  was  lady  principal  from  that 
time  until  1854,  except  one  year,  during  which  the 
school  was  closed  on  account  of  cholera  She  was  a 
teacher  of  classes  in  Otterbein  and  elsewhere  for  many 
years  afterward. 

She  became  the  wife  of  Professor  John  Haywood,  July 
8,  1852,  and  bore  to  him  six  children,  all  of  whom  are 
dead  except  Lida,  the  wife  of  L.  0.  Miller,  of  Dayton, 
Ohio.  While  teaching  in  Otterbein,  Mrs.  Haywood 
became  a  member  of  the  United  Brethren  Church.  She 
was  associated  with  the  educational  work  of  the  United 
Brethren  almost  from  its  beginning,  and  worked  nobly 
before  her  classes  and  with  her  pen;  and  her  work  will 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  235 

remain.  She  was  one  of  the  originators  of  the  Woman's 
Missionary  Society  of  the  Church,  and  served  as  president 
of  that  organization  during  most  of  its  history;  and  her 
wisdom  and  zeal  have  contributed  largely  to  its  success. 

In  the  local  church  of  which  she  was  a  member,  her 
wisdom,  sympathy,  and  help  could  always  be  relied 
upon  in  every  department  of  service  and  work. 

To  a  highly  cultivated  intellect  and  uncommon  nat- 
ural gifts  she  was  continually  adding  by  reading,  obser- 
vation, and  experience,  a  rare  treasury  of  wisdom  and 
knowledge. 

To  a  heart  conscientious,  sympathetic,  and  believing, 
there  were  added  the  beauties  and  graces  of  an  exalted 
Christian  experience. 

She  had  a  will  as  resolute  and  courageous  as  her  mind 
was  intelligent  and  her  heart  was  pure,  producing  a  life 
full  of  activity  and  good  works. 

Two  habits  were  very  marked,  the  one  of  trusting 
God  and  relying  upon  his  guidance  in  everything  and 
at  all  times,  and  the  other  of  economizing  her  spare 
moments  by  reading.  She  kept  a  Bible  or  Testament  in 
the  different  rooms  of  her  home  where  she  was  in  the 
habit  of  being  employed,  and  when  a  spare  moment 
came  the  book  was  opened  if  but  to  read  a  verse ;  and 
thus  food  was  furnished  for  the  soul,  which  gave  strength 
and  tone  to  her  whole  life  and  character.  When  she 
spoke  of  the  riches  of  the  love  of  Christ,  of  his  power 
to  save  to  the  uttermost,  of  the  blessedness  that  springs 
out  of  the  victories  of  the  faith,  of  the  sweetness  of 
perfect  trust  in  God,  or  of  the  calmness  with  which  the 
Christian  may  meet  all  the  difficulties  and  perplexities 
of  life,  she  ever  impressed  one  with  the  conviction  that 
she  spoke  out  of  a  full  and  complete  experience  of  all 
that  she  uttered. 


236 


HISTORY    OF    Til]': 


Her  influence  upon  the  earth  has  made  rich  and 
fragrant  many  lives  which  will  be  her  crown  of  rejoic- 
ing in  eternity. 

Mrs.  Haywood  had  a  broad,  intelligent  idea  of  mis- 
sionary work.  The  secret  of  her  devotion  and  interest 
is  found  in  her  own  words:  "We  are  not  engaged  in 
this  work  because  we  sought  it,  but  it  has  come  to  us." 
"By  divine  authority  woman  has  a  part  in  missionary 
work."  Her  zeal  and  quiet  enthusiasm  did  not  depend 
upon  results  or  special  pleas,  but  an  abiding  conviction 
that  loyalty  to  the  King  of  kings  meant  obedience  to 
his  commands,  an  absorbing  desire  to  see  his  kingdom 
extended,  and  a  complete  consecration  of  self  and  service 
to  the  conquest.  Nothing  she  possessed  was  too  precious 
to  be  given  as  an  offering. 

It  is  a  sincere  pleasure  to  remember  that  in  her  home 
she  was  eminently  Christian.  Here  her  virtues,  shining 
with  a  steady  luster,  were  the  highest  order  of  adorn- 
ment. Calm,  dignified,  vivacious,  but  earnest,  hospita- 
ble, and  social,  she  ever  impressed  one  with  her  character 
as  a  Christian  matron.  She  had  a  peculiar  skill,  what- 
ever the  subject  of  conversation  might  be,  in  finding  a 
ready  occasion  to  turn  the  current  to  some  aspect  of 
religious  faith,  or  experience,  or  hope,  or  to  some  feature 
of  Bible-teaching. 

At  her  funeral  there  was  a  large  audience,  composed 
of  the  faculty  and  students  of  Otterbein  University,  and 
citizens  and  friends  from  a  distance,  assembled  to  pay 
their  tribute  of  love  and  respect.  The  literary  society  of 
which  she  was  the  founder,  and  the  local  missionary 
society,  attended  in  a  body. 

The  casket  was  placed  in  front  of  the  aitar,  upon 
which  was  a  floral  offering  by  the  trustees  of  the 
Woman's  Missionary  Association. 


UNITED    BltKTHREN    MISSIONS.  237 

The  secretary  of  this  association,  in  writing  of  Mrs. 
Haywood's  death,  says  :  "  We  shall  miss  her  wise  coun- 
sel in  the  board  of  trustees.  When  we  assemble  in  an- 
nual meeting,  the  queenly,  dignified  one,  who,  from  the 
first  meeting,  filled  the  office  of  vice-president,  and  since 
1879  hag  occupied  the  president's  chair,  will  not  be  with 
us.  But  her  influence  cannot  die.  We  can  honor  her 
memory  in  no  better  way  than  to  follow  her  example  of 
thoughtful  devotion  to  the  spread  of  the  gospel.  A  few 
days  before  she  left  us,  when  bidding  her  good-by,  she 
said :  *  I  send  love  to  all  the  dear  sisters.'  Thousands 
of  those  who  knew  and  loved  her,  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific  and  in  far-off  Africa  and  Germany,  would 
join  us  in  our  floral  ofierings  and  tribute  of  respect  were 
they  permitted  to  do  so. 

"  Some  years  ago  Mrs.  Haywood  was  very  deeply  im- 
pressed that  the  Sunday-school  of  Westerville  was  able 
to  support  the  teacher  of  one  of  our  African  schools. 
Having  a  Sunday  to  spend  there,  she  invited  me  to  her 
house  to  dine,  and  help  her  to  some  facts  respecting  this 
matter.  I  can  recall  some  of  her  words,  and  especially 
her  spirit,  which  reminded  me  forcibly  of  the  words: 
'For  Zion's  sake  will  I  not  hold  my  peace,  and  for 
Jerusalem's  sake  I  will  not  rest,  until  the  righteousness 
thereof  go  forth  as  brightness,  and  the  salvation  thereof 
as  a  lamp  that  burneth."  '     (Isaiah  62  : 1.) 

This  w^as  before  the  organization  of  the  Woman's  Mis- 
sionary Association  in  our  church.  She  felt  that  there 
was  far  less  done  by  the  people  of  Westerville  than 
should  be  in  behalf  of  the  heathen.  In  her  efforts  to 
collect  money  for  missions,  she  had  met  with  much 
opposition  from  persons  Avho  said  the  mission  in  Africa 
was  not  successful,  and  would  not  be  soon.  In  a  short 
time  after  this  interview  the  Sunday-school  there  was 


238  HISTORY   OF   THE 

organized  into  a  missionary  society,  and  undertook  to 
support  a  school  at  Mannoh,  in  Africa,  which  it  has  done 
most  of  the  time  since. 

Mrs.  Haywood  does  not  belong  to  the  class  of  persons 
who  spend  their  time  in  showing  how  and  why  things 
can't  be  done.  In  this  respect  she  and  Mrs.  Sowers  were 
alike;  they  believed  it  more  consistent  and  necessary  to 
show  how  things  can  be  done,  and  then  proceed  to  do 
them,  in  a  kind,  Christian  manner,  even  before  others 
finished  their  harangues  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
question. 

Much  of  the  success  of  the  Woman's  Board  is  due  to 
the  executive  ability  and  self-sacrificing  spirit  of  its 
first  presidents.  Their  godly  lives,  great  love  for  souls, 
and  unceasing  efforts  to  rescue  the  perishing,  are  a  legacy 
to  the  whole  Church  of  inestimable  value.  They  be- 
lieved it  possible  to  reform  and  save  men,  through  the 
gospel,  and  they  showed  their  faith  by  their  works. 
Thanks  be  to  God  for  such  trophies  of  grace.  Some  have 
gone  to  heaven,  but  others  remain  to  bless  the  world. 


UNITED  BRETHREN  MISSIONS.  239 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES    OF    AFRICAN    CONVERTS. 

David  Kosambo  Loading  was  born  in  the  autumn  of 
18G6,  in  Mosam,  an  African  village  situated  eighty  miles 
south  of  Freetown,  and  about  twent}^  miles  south  of 
Shaingay,  the  capital  of  Sierra  Leone.  It  is  our  first 
mission  station  in  West  Africa. 

David's  father's  name  was  Bannah  Kosambo,  and  his 
mother  was  a  daughter  of  Thomas  Stephen  Caulker,  who 
was  chief  at  Shaingay  when  a  site  was  obtained  for  a 
mission  near  that  place. 

David's  father  was  in  good  circumstances  for  that 
country,  having  two  wives  and  a  number  of  slaves,  and 
was  a  man  of  a  good  deal  of  energy.  His  mother  was 
also  a  superior  woman,  considering  her  heathen  sur- 
roundings. 

David  was  one  of  the  first  two  taken  as  mission  boys 
at  Shaingay  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gomer.  This  was  when  he 
was  five  years  of  age.  Children  of  well-to-do  heathens  who 
own  slaves  are  not  required  to  do  anything  that  slaves 
are  expected  to  do,  so  that  David  did  little  else  but  play 
before  coming  to  the  mission.  Besides  being  trained  in 
idleness,  he  was  also  taught  all  the  heathen  superstitions. 
His  father  had  in  front  of  his  mud  hut  a  circle  three  feet 
in  diameter,  and  in  the  center  of  this  was  a  small  post 
made  of  counter  wood,  on  the  top  of  which  was  a  coun- 
try-made axe,  which  was  there  to  keep  witches  from  en- 
tering his  house.  His  father  was  also  a  purrow  man, 
and  had  him  put  in  the  purrow  bush  at  the  age  of  three 


240  HISTORY   OF   THE 

or  four  years.  When  he  came  out  he  received  a  new 
name,  as  is  the  custom,  and  was  called  Contam.  The 
purrow  bush,  sometimes  called  "devil  bush,"  is  a  se- 
cret society,  which  has  for  its  objects  the  promotion  of 
idolatry,  amuletism,  and  devil  worship.  It  holds  its 
meetings  in  the  bush,  near  to  where  Satan  is  supposed  to 
have  a  stopping  place,  and  over  which  he  exerts  a  pow- 
erful influence.  Near  most  African  towns  of  considera- 
ble size  a  spot  of  ground  of  from  ten  to  forty  acres  is 
dedicated  to  the  Devil-bush  Society.  A  certain  initia- 
tory ceremony  is  observed  pledging  the  person  joining 
the  society  to  do  certain  things,  and  refrain  from  doing 
certain  other  things.  This  mystic  order  regulates  the 
religion,  commerce,  and  laws  of  the  country  to  a  large 
extent.  It  is  the  means  in  the  hands  of  Satan  of  great 
evils.. 

To  tell  it  in  a  sentence,  David  came  to  the  mission 
with  all  the  vices  common  to  heathen  children  of  his 
age.  Those  most  marked  and  difficult  to  overcome  in 
him  were  lying,  stealing,  using  obscene  language,  and 
a  violent  temper.  When  provoked,  he  would  fight 
boys  twice  or  thrice  his  size,  but  his  courageous  pluck 
carried  him  through  without  serious  injury.  He  had 
more  pride  and  self-esteem  than  were  for  his  good.  The 
haughty  feeling  very  common  among  men,  especially 
Purrow-bush  Society  members,  that  women  are  inferior 
to  themselves,  fully  possessed  him. 

But  now  let  us  see  what  this  boy  amounted  to  as  he 
grew  up.  When  he  came  to  the  mission  he  could  not 
speak  a  word  of  English,  but  he  learned  to  speak  so  read- 
ily and  made  such  rapid  progress  in  his  studies  that  he 
soon  became  a  favorite  both  in  the  school  and  the  mis- 
sion family.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gomer,  who  had  charge  of 
him  when  out  of  school,  taught  him  scripture  texts  and 


UNITED    BUETIIKEN    MISSIONS.  241 

hymns,  and  had  him  repeat  them  occasionally  and 
soon  discovered  that  he  retained  whatever  he  was 
taught.  The  boy's  faults  they  corrected,  none  of  which 
was  harder  to  overcome  than  his  unwillingness  to  do 
slave's  work,  as  he  called  digging  in  the  ground  or  any 
kind  of  farm  work.  At  most  of  our  mission  stations  in 
Africa  there  are  farms,  and  mission  boys  are  required  to 
labor  on  them  about  five  hours  each  week  day.  Mission 
girls  work  in  the  houses  and  sew  the  same  number  of 
hours.  Anything  that  was  not  slave's  work  David  did 
cheerfully,  and  in  time  he  learned  that  it  was  right  to 
do  that. 

David's  natural  good  sense,  his  ability  to  learn,  and 
great  love  for  knowledge,  as  well  as  his  good  talking 
ability,  made  him  a  leader  among  his  schoolmates.  He 
was  a  natural-born  orator,  and  could  plead  his  cause 
well.  He  could  look  you  in  the  face  and  boldly  declare 
he  had  never  seen  a  thing,  which,  at  the  same  time,  he 
had  eaten,  hidden,  or  given  away.  When  detected,  he 
would  insist  that  some  one  else  must  have  done  it.  He 
had  a  great  dread  of  punishment.  One  of  the  methods 
at  our  missions  is  to  write  the  name  of  the  offense  on  a 
large,  stiff  card,  putting  a  string  into  two  corners  of  it, 
and  tying  it  around  the  neck  so  that  it  will  hang  over 
the  breast.  This  would  bring  the  truth  from  David,  but 
it  was  not  often  necessary  to  resort  to  this  punishment 
in  his  case.  He  mastered  any  study  given  him  in  a 
reasonable  time,  and  was  never  satisfied  unless  he  was 
at  the  head  of  his  class.  The  result  was  that  he  was  the 
best  scholar  connected  with  the  mission  when  he  left 
Africa  for  the  United  States  in  1880,  as  he  was  among 
the  best  during  the  four  years  he  attended  both  day 
and  Sunday-schools  in  America. 

In  August,  1878,  he  and  five   of  his  classmates  and 


242  HISTORY   OF   THE 

three  adults  united  with  the  Church  at  the  same  time. 
It  was  soon  seen  that  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  had  touched 
his  heart,  though  he  was  only  about  twelve  years  old. 
As  the  palm  trees  with  which  that  country  abounds 
throw  off  old  and  superfluous  branches,  so  David,  as 
he  grew  up,  threw  off  his  ugly,  wicked  ways,  and  be- 
came truthful,  honest,  and  prompt  in  the  discharge  of 
his  duties  as  a  mission  boy  and  a  Christian. 

He  could  interest  and  amuse  others  while  he  was  yet 
quite  young  and  before  he  could  speak  English  well. 

At  the  weekly  Bible  class  all  mission  children  are 
present,  unless  there  are  special  reasons  for  their  ab- 
sence, even  before  they  can  read.  Mr.  Gomer  could  not 
attend  one  of  these  Bible  meetings,  and  when  David  re- 
turned he  asked  him  what  the  lesson  was  about  that 
night.  He  replied  substantially  as  follows  :  "  Dis  night 
me  been  read  one  place  where  dem  people  bin  want  for 
keep  meeting,  and  dey  bin  one  gate  dere  dey  call  um 
beautiful.  Dem  people  dey  bring  one  man  what  no  able 
to  walker,  and  lay  him  dere  so  he  can  beg  dem  people 
for  give  copper,  [they  call  all  money  copper  in  this  part 
of  Africa]  and  Peter  and  John  want  for  go  into  that 
meeting,  and  he  look  um  and  say,  give  me  copper,  and 
Peter  say,  I  no  got  copper,  but  that  ting  what  I  get  I  go 
give  you,  for  get  up  and  walk;  and  de  man  begin  for 
walker."  All  Bible  readers  will  readily  recognize  that 
the  lesson  for  that  evening  was  the  third  chapter  of  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  ajid  that  our  heathen  boy,  of  about 
six  or  seven  years  of  age,  got  the  fact  well  fixed  in  his 
mind  that  a  miracle  had  been  wrought  upon  the  lame 
man  by  Peter  and  John  in  the  name  of  Christ. 

One  more  very  amusing  incident,  not  so  to  him  how- 
ever, occurred  in  Dayton,  Ohio,  where  he  lived  and  at- 
tended school.     By  over-work  his  eyes  became  inflamed, 


UNITKD    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  243 

and  his  adopted  mother,  Mrs.  P.  Louding,  took  him  to  a 
physician  to  get  a  prescription.  After  having  examined 
the  eyes  and  written  the  prescription,  the  physician  said, 
"David,  you  must  not  gj  to  school  nor  look  at  a  book  for 
a  week,  but  keep  your  eyes  shaded."  As  Mrs.  Louding 
and  he  came  out  of  the  office,  she  told  him  to  go  home, 
and  she  would  get  the  medicine  and  soon  follow  him. 
Half  an  hour  later,  as  she  was  passing  the  street  on 
which  David  had  gone,  she  heard  a  boy  crying,  a  few  rods 
up  an  alley,  and  saw  a  group  of  other  boys  around  him. 
Thinking  an  accident  had  happened  some  one,  she  went 
to  see  if  she  could  not  render  some  assistance  to  the  un- 
fortunate lad,  little  expecting  to  find  her  own  adopted 
son  there,  crying  as  though  his  heart  would  break.  He 
had  gone  into  this  alley  to  give  vent  to  his  grief  at  his 
being  forbidden  the  school-room  and  all  use  of  his  eyes 
for  a  week,  and  a  group  of  his  schoolmates  had  gone  to 
inquire  what  troubled  him,  and  he  told  them  he  would 
not  be  able  to  keep  up  with  his  classes,  and  that  caused 
him  great  distress.  His  love  for  books  and  thirst  for 
knowledge  was  remarkable.  Rev.  W.  J.  Shuey,  his  Sab- 
bath-school teacher,  who  had  a  large  number  of  well-in- 
formed men  and  women  in  his  Bible  class,  said  David 
was  the  best  scholar  he  had. 

His  pastor  said  "His  brilliant  life  and  untimely  death 
had  settled  beyond  doubt  two  very  important  questions; 
one  that  the  mission  work  of  the  Church  in  that  dark 
land  was  not  a  failure.  The  pure,  successful  life  and 
victorious  death  of  young  Louding  was  compensation 
in  full  for  all  the  Church  had  ever  done  in  that  country. 
The  other,  that  a  man  with  a  colored  skin  could  have 
brain  and  soul ;  that  this  dark  heathen  boy  was  brought 
here,  put  into  the  school,  taught  with  the  white  students, 
and  that  he  pulled  even  and  much  of  the  time  ahead; 


244  HISTORY    OF    THE 

that  his  amiable  life  and  sweet,  triumphant  death  were 
assurances  that  the  African  had  a  soul  full  of  tenderness 
and  love." 

He  was  buried  in  Woodland  Cemetery,  Dayton,  Ohio, 
May  12,  1884,  not  yet  eighteen  years  of  age,  but  fully 
ripe  for  heaven. 

THOMAS   TUCKER. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  1836,  in  Tong- 
keh,  on  the  Bargroo  River,  in  Western  Africa,  an  African 
village,  about  one  hundred  miles  south  of  Freetown,  the 
capital  of  Sierra  Leone.  Rev.  J.  K.  Billheimer  found 
him  on  Sherbro  Island,  in  1857,  in  a  nude  state,  as  many 
of  the  people  in  that  country  are  now,  and  exceedingly 
ignorant  and  superstitious. 

Mr.  Billheimer  at  first  employed  him  as  a  common  la- 
borer, but  he  was  soon  promoted  to  captain  of  the  mis- 
sion boat,  and  made  foreman  of  laborers  on  land  when 
not  boating.  He  early  showed  executive  ability  and  suc- 
cess in  the  management  of  men.  In  less  than  two  years 
after  he  came  to  the  mission  he  was  deeply  impressed 
with  the  truth  of  Christianity,  and  made  an  effort  to 
find  the  Savior.  Having  but  one  missionary  on  the 
field,  and  that  one  disabled  by  sickness,  religious  services 
were  irregular,  and  instruction  to  seekers  after  truth 
meagre.  Owing  to  this  and  other  causes,  Thomas  did 
not  progress  rapidly ;  but  he  never  intentionally  took 
a  step  backward.  He  was  from  the  first  a  fast  friend  of 
the  mission,  and  finally  he  showed  in  his  life  that  he 
was  a  changed  man.  In  due  time  he  took  to  him  a  wife, 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  country,  and  not  long 
afterward,  a  second  wife,  as  polygamy  is  common  there. 
This  last  step  came  near  plunging  him  into  the  degra- 
dation of  heathen  life  again.  When  he  was  made  con- 
scious of  the  great  wrong  he  had  done,  he  put  away  one 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  245 

wife,  and  was  married  to  the  other  one  according  to 
Christian  marriage. 

We  hatl  no  organized  church  in  Africa  until  1875,  con- 
sequently those  who  renounced  heathenism  did  not  have 
such  advantages  as  exist  at  present.  Thomas  was  sober, 
industrious,  truthful,  honest,  and  reliable ;  very  superior 
to  the  natives  generally,  and  to  what  he  was  when  he 
first  came  to  Shaingay.  Soon  after  Mr.  J.  Gomer  and 
wife  reached  Africa,  in  1870,  Thomas  was  greatly  aroused 
in  regard  to  his  religious  condition,  and  made  a  fuller 
consecration  of  himself  to  Christ.  In  a  greater  measure 
than  ever  before  he  exemplified  the  religion  of  Christ. 
Not  only  was  he  prompt  to  attend  the  means  of  grace, 
and  was  found,  whenever  practicable,  at  prayer  meeting, 
public  preaching,  and  the  morning  and  evening  family 
prayers  at  the  mission,  but  he  began  to  speak  to  those 
around  him  who  were  out  of  Chri&t  about  their  soul's 
salvation,  and  urge  them  to  abandon  heathen  practices 
and  become  Christians. 

About  this  time  Mr.  Gomer  had  him  lead  prayer  meet- 
ing, and  occasionally  pray  at  the  close  of  public  worship. 
Not  unfrequently  he  would  go  to  neighboring  villages, 
and  there  tell  the  story  of  the  cross.  In  this  way  he  be- 
came a  kind  of  home  evangelist,  a  lay  preacher,  and  as 
he  was  a  large,  well-developed  man,  with  an  open,  honest 
face,  which  seemed  to  say  to  all,  I  will  do  you  no  harm, 
but  try  to  do  you  good,  the  people  listened  to  him  with 
interest  and  profit.  His  manly  bearing  and  sincerity — 
for  he  was  pre-eminently  sincere — and  deep  sympathy 
with  the  people  in  their  sufferings,  and  especially  his  zeal 
for  their  salvation,  gave  him  great  influence  over  them. 

He  also  became  a  very  influential  man  with  Chief 
Caulker.  A  few  years  before  his  death,  while  laboring  as 
our  missiorary  at  Mo-Fup=,  wliere  he  died   at  his  post. 


24(3  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Chief  Caulker  made  him  a  sub-chief  over  a  large  district. 
He  gave  general  satisfaction,  and  no  appeal  was  ever 
made  from  his  decisions  to  the  superior  chief.  He  con- 
tinued in  this  office  from  1882  to  1885. 

The  last  two  years  of  his  life  he  was  a  member  of  the 
missionary  district  meeting,  being  admitted  to  the  min- 
istry in  1883,  and  dying  in  1885.  Rev.  D.  F.  Wilberforce 
says:  "I  was  one  of  the  committee  to  examine  Brother 
Thomas  Tucker  for  admission  into  our  district  meeting. 
There  were  examined  at  the  same  time  a  young  man 
fresh  from  the  grammar  school  in  Freetown,  and  another 
from  our  schools.  In  his  own  peculiar  way,  and  in  bro- 
ken English,  Brother  Tucker  gave  answers  which  only 
a  man  who  had  experimental  knowledge  of  religion  could 
give.  He  came  out  ahead  of  the  other  candidates,  who 
were  better  educated  than  he.  They  had  bojk  knowl- 
edge, but  he  had  long  been  a  learner  at  the  feet  of  Jesus. 
All  who  ever  heard  him  took  knowledge  of  him  tliat  he 
had  been  with  Jesus." 

Bej'ond  being  able  to  read  the  Bible,  he  had  but  little 
desire  for  literary  attainments.  His  natural  good  sense 
and  genuine  Christian  experience,  with  a  proper  regard 
to  the  interests  of  both  his  superiors  and  inferiors,  made 
him  influential  and  a  valuable  helper.  He  cheerfully 
accepted  the  responsibilities  of  positions  given  him,  but 
never  sought  for  them.  It  was  his  right  to  become  head 
man  of  Mo-Fuss.  This  town  belonged  to  him  in  the 
sense  of  his  being  its  ruler,  but  he  chose  rather  to  make  it 
his  headquarters  as  an  evangelist  than  a  temporal  ruler, 
and  from  it  go  to  the  adjacent  towns  and  villages  and 
preach  the  gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  His  round 
of  appointments  reached  from  twenty  to  thirty  places, 
and  with  joy  did  he  visit  these,  traveling  on  foot  or  in 
native  canoes,  to  tell  the  story  of  Christ  to  the  people. 


UNITED    BRETHREN    MISSIONS.  247 

One  night  when  he  was  in  his  canoe,  a  large,  hungry, 
and  determined  alligator  tried  hard  to  make  a  supper 
of  him.  The  Lord  enabled  him,  with  his  oars  and  by- 
skillful  management  of  his  canoe,  to  keep  his  enemy  at 
bay  until  he  landed,  and  escaped  from  danger. 

The  writer's  last  associations  with  Thomas  were  at  the 
annual  meeting  at  Bonthe  in  the  spring  of  1885.  He 
seemed  more  than  usually  devout,  cheerful,  and  inter- 
ested in  all  that  was  done.  The  business  was  finished 
Saturday,  and  Sunday  was  given  to  worship.  Early  in 
the  morning  was  a  love  feast,  and  Thomas  spoke  with 
unusual  unction  and  power.  His  face  became  radiant 
with  divine  light  and  shone  with  the  glory  of  God.  All 
day  did  he  and  others  feel  the  divine  presence,  and  truly 
it  was  good  to  be  there. 

His  death,  supposed  to  have  been  caused  by  eating  pois- 
oned meat,  the  animal  having  been  bitten  by  a  snake, 
was  very  sudden,  but  it  found  Thomas  ready.  His  dying 
testimony  was  clear,  and  though  he  was  in  great  agony, 
he  gave  directions  as  to  the  disposition  of  his  body, 
which  he  wished  carried  from  Mo-Fuss  to  Shaingay  for 
burial,  assuring  those  around  him  that  his  soul  would 
sweetly  rest  in  the  arms  of  Jesus.  Thus  passed  away  a 
truly  good  man,  leaving  a  wife  and  an  only  child. 

JOHN    WILLIAMS. 

This  boy,  whose  short  but  brilliant  life  and  death, 
for  in  his  case  it  is  not  amiss  to  speak  of  even  his 
death  in  this  sense,  was  born  at  Bomphctook,  West 
Africa,  about  the  year  1872.  His  father  was  among  the 
first  Christians  there,  and  was  very  earnest  and  faith- 
ful. The  mother  of  John  Williams  was  a  heathen, 
when  he  was  born,  and  continued  such  until  after  his 
death.     John   was  a  good   boy;    that  is,   he   was   well 


248  HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  MISSIONS, 

disposed,  and  prepossessing  in  his  ajDpearance.  He 
made  good  i^rogress  in  his  studies,  was  very  fond  of 
music,  and  had  a  good  voice,  which  made  his  singing 
attractive.  He  spoke  English  quite  well,  and  soon 
showed  good  ability  as  an  interpreter.  He  w^as  a  good 
leader  of  singing  also.  Because  of  these  qualities,  he 
for  some  time  acted  as  interpreter  of  Rembee  station. 
Mr.  McCauley,  the  missionary  there,  itinerated  a  good 
deal,  and  took  John  with  him.  It  was  by  wading 
swamps,  no  doubt,  and  the  exposure  he  endured  during 
this  service,  that  he  laid  the  foundation  of  the  illness 
which  ended  his  life.  He  and  his  mother  had  been 
stopping  at  Debia,  a  village  only  about  a  half  a  mile 
from  Shaingay,  for  some  time  previous  to  his  death.  His 
disease  was  the  African  scrofula,  which  may  be  generally 
known  by  the  knots  which  form  around  the  neck.  It  is 
called  knot  disease  by  the  natives,  and  these  knots  are 
frequently  burned  out  by  them.  John  had  reached  the 
point  when  all  hope  of  recovery  had  gone,  and  he  was 
patiently  and  hopefully  awaiting  his  end. 

Daily  the  school  children  at  Shaingay  visited  John, 
and  often  at  his  request  read  and  sang  for  him.  Late 
one  evening  he  sent  for  several  of  the  school  children 
to  come  to  see  him.  When  they  got  there  he  told 
them  to  sing,  "Thou,  my  everlasting  portion,"  and,  "I 
am  sweeping  through  the  gates,"  They  all  heartily 
joined  in  the  singing  and  finished  the  first  hymn,  but 
had  hardly  commenced  the  second  when  John's  soul 
went  to  God,  He  had  told  them  he  would  die  that 
night,  but  still  no  one  thought  it  would  be  so  sudden 
and  glorious.  Mr.  Gomer  was  present,  and  says  it  was 
an  hour  not  to  be  forgotten  by  those  who  witnessed  the 
victory  of  faith  in  Christ. 


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